charli's Blog

vitt... the government was hoaxed by the cable and satellite companies...

No one thought this out... except for the $$$

Cadmium, Mercury and Lead are valuable metals in quantity. The problem is transportation. Getting all of those T.V. sets to the recycling center requires more gasoline than it would be worth. This makes it solely a hazardous waste disposal issue.

A great recommendation from our Ford man. I currently have 2 amps in series; the output of one going to the input of another. I won't introduce any more gain into the system as these devices do have their limits.

Oh, BTW, several friends have also reported that FOX is the hardest channel to "pick up". One woman at the St Pete meeting stated that she gets good reception in the morning, but as the day goes by the reception gets bad, and forget when a storm is in the area.

Let's put it this way... if I had bought a 5 pound block of swiss cheese when I started this investigation into the conversion, and punched a hole in the block of cheese for every problem I have found... that block of cheese would only weigh a few ounces!

Amen to you Charli! I wrote to the chief engineer at CH 13 and he tells me that if you maximize your signal strength to their station, then your other channels will come in much better. Not only is CH 13 at fault, but CH 8 as well. You can't maximize a signal if there is no way that you have the capability to do so. There should be no difference in connecting your DTV converter box to your TV than there is connecting your antenna to your TV. However, these station engineers believe that we, the viewers, are at fault, when in actuality, they can't put out a good enough signal for you. I have no problem with the reception of CHs 10 and 28 tho. Maybe CHs 8 & 13 should consult with these channels to find out their "secrete." In my opinion, the local channels are NOT READY for DTV altho they want you to believe otherwise.

My antenna IS pointed in the direction that www.antennaweb.org tells me to aim it. I get the analog channels as clear as one would get cable. When there is the least bit of moisture in the air or a little wind, forget about digital channels 8.1 and 13.1. When it is crystal clear outside and no moisture or wind, then 8.1 and 13.1 comes in real great. Maybe, mmustangg, if you were to log onto that web site, maybe your other channels would come in just fine. Could be that you have the larger end of your antenna pointed towards the signal instead of the narrow end. By the way, I even used a compass to make sure that I was right on. Do you know how to use a compass?

No matter what everyone is told, the conversion will be a big boondoggle in a lot of cases. Power used is dependent apparantly on the channel used for the digital broadcast and most stations may be at the limit of the power they are allowed to use. Digital signals are really finicky I'm finding out. If you go to the message boards at AVS Forums, High def forum or the Tampa HDTV forum you'll see that even some living in Riverview itself where the antenna farm is have problems and in their case it seems to be signal overload. Attenuators have to be added to their antenna systems to lessen the signal strength. And there are myriads of problems with tall buildings being a problem, trees, etc etc. That FCC guy on Your Turn really gave the glossed over info about all this. There will be problems and there are problems with these digital signals. If he thinks a lot of us believe this b.s. about wanting these frequencies for 'emergency' use then he's sadly mistaken. This whole conversion is a conspiracy among set manufacturers,cable and satellite companies, major electronic corps and others to shove this 'new technology' down people's throats and maybe force people to subscribe to cable and satellite to receive television as opposed to good old fashioned over the air reception. they are really making it as difficult as possible to receive local channels. These converter boxes, some good and some bad and some terrible--I have several myself. We don't need to get rid of analog tv. You see these message boards about all this and all the techno-geeks love it. They go out and buy all th

"This whole conversion is a conspiracy..."

Okay, the conspiracy theorists have arrived. Logic is now optional!

There will be no change for me on Feb 17th because I have been running the digital boxes now for months WITH NO PROBLEMS! Bottom line is that you can get the signals if you want them. We have just traded one kind of static for another. Fuzzy static for pixel static. Big deal! At least now I get channel 10 where I couldn't before. Damn those analog TVs!

That's the lovely thing about the converter box. YOU DON'T NEED TO THROW AWAY ANYTHING! If I want to recycle my TV, I'll gut it and make a fish tank!*lol*

Gosh, I hope some big news event- like an earthquake happens. Or a War, perhaps. Anything to enliven the conversation. It's like I'm back in Iowa. (cricket, cricket)

Well, lets see how many have died from Cathode ray tube poisoning in the last 60+ years, probably a slim number to none, so its another environmentalist wacko way-out nonsense theory that does nothing but raise the cost of disposal of everything to satisfy their b.s. nonsense. The nonsense in Iraq has probably killed more in 5 or 6 years than cathode ray tubes have since 1948.

moct... that's what I have been saying this whole time. Yes. Your E-TV has to be connected to cable for it to receive... no converter box needed, BUT with no cable, you need the converter box... and power for the converter box. There are battery operated power systems for the converter box. Now, if you are lucky to live some where that allows you do have a generator, you will be okay.

moct,

You are joking right? All the commercials that are out there and this make no sense to you yet? Doesn't sound like you watch a lot of TV anyway.

If you have cable, you don't have to worry about a thing! You get your signal from the cable box.

If you use an antenna to get your TV signals(not cable TV) you need a converter box. The box just hooks up in between your antenna and your TV and converts the new signal into something your TV can use.

Don't worry about portables until you master the regular ones.

Here are the two ways you hook up a TV to the digital converters.

Should you need to hook it up with a VCR/DVD player, here's the diagram for that.

Some more disturbing news about the conversion... at a recent meeting of the BOCC the conversion was mentioned. Seems the FCC stated that the Tampa Bay area is in deep doodoo should a disaster happen.