On New Year's Day, my husband should have been plopped on the couch watching a football game on television. But instead he and a buddy were stomping around on the roof for a couple of hours in the bitter cold.
It was all for a good cause. It was his resolution to change the way our home receives the signal we use to watch TV.
As our family prepares for the Feb. 17 date when all TV signals will be broadcast in digital, we are getting ready for the high-tech move by going backward in time. We joined a growing number of households installing an old technology to input the signal: a TV antenna.
While the old-fashioned "rabbit ears" and the gangly metal antennas sprouting out of rooftops have become a thing of the past, many homeowners are tapping back into these relics to grab signals that not only are higher quality, but also greater in number.
It's also a way to say good-bye to that monthly bill from Comcast, Dish Network, or whatever subscription service homeowners are using. That was our primary motivation.
We don't watch many channels anyway, but experts are predicting that unlike the old days when a roof-top antenna might bring in a handful of stations, households now could receive about 30 channels for free. Our new antenna brings in 28 channels, including the major networks, Me TV, ME Too, kids' channel Qubo, weather and local TV.
The new digital transmission is much higher in quality, so TVs that use only an antenna can get clear reception of many channels that previously weren't available without cable or satellite service.
Whether Bolingbrook residents are planning to install an antenna or go the other direction and upgrade to cable or HDTV, it's time to get prepared for the transition to digital television, which will take effect in less than six weeks.
These are the key points to remember:
1. An old analog TV will still work after the transition. TV viewers do not have to buy a more expensive HDTV.
2. Those who have an analog TV and already subscribe to cable or satellite, should be fine. The cable or satellite company will be handling the transition automatically.
3. If residents plan to use an antenna to pick up over-the-air signals with an analog TV, they need to purchase a converter box to translate the digital signal for the older TV.
4. TV viewers can obtain a coupon for the converter box through the federal government. Just log on to www.dtv2009.gov to order the $40 coupons, which are available two per household. But act fast! Officials are reporting that it takes six weeks to receive the coupons and that they have almost issued all that were available. The coupons also expire after only 90 days, and with the rush to buy converter boxes, some people have found that the coupons expired before they could find a box in stores.
5. For those with a digital television, an antenna will catch the signal of many channels, without a converter box or cable subscription. The reception, however, often depends on a home's proximity to a broadcast station.
6. Even in homes with a digital TV, those who still want to use an older VHS recorder will need a converter box to decode the signal for the recorder.
For more information, check the following links:
The Digital TV Transition: What You Need to Know about DTV
Digital TV Transition: A Complete Guide
A Guide to the 2009 DTV Transition
10 things you need to know about the digital TV switch
Emily Neal is a 30-something wife and stay-at-home mom in Bolingbrook with three children. She also has a long history as a journalist.
After years of planning for the transition to digital TV signals, ironically, the Obama administration wants to halt this change. Now all of a sudden, it's not change we need, but more of the same analog TV signals. Evidently, this isn't change Obama can believe in, but he does believe in changing the very foundations of this country into a socialist utopia. The Obama administration's reasoning for not wanting this change is because the government isn’t doing enough to help “Americans _ particularly those in rural, poor or minority communities _ prepare for and navigate the transition.” Never mind the Islamic terrorists Obama is waiting to appease, rural, poor and minority communities need Obama to save them from the coming onslaught of digital TV signals.