Finally, the last week of analog broadcasting has arrived for television stations as the "big switch" will occur this Friday, June 12th. The time of the switch will vary by stations, but must be completed by midnight Friday.For those "over the air" watchers who have not taken steps to make your old sets DTV ready, you need to get a converter box and new digital antenna by THIS Friday. The government still offers two, $40 coupons per households to be used toward the purchase of a new box.
This little box attaches to your old TV set and will begin picking up the new digital TV signals over the air.
Cable and satellite subscribers do not have to do anything.
For those of you who already have a DTV converter box, you will also need to take action this Friday. You will need to use the "rescan" or "auto scan" feature on your converter boxes (usually a menu option under "setup" on your converter box remote control).
This "rescan" will give you an update of tv station signals as some stations will be changing digital channels.
WKYC will move from VHF to UHF as digital channel 17 at 10 a.m. this Friday morning. If you don't rescan your boxes, you will not get channel 3 where you see it now on your converter box.
And one final point to keep in mind. Digital TV is NOT necessarily high definition television. All new televisions are digital...but unless your new tv is an HDTV, you will NOT receive programming in high definition, only digitally. If this is the case, you may still receive a 4x3 picture ratio, instead of a wider 16x9 picture.
And, those old antennas up on your roof may not work either. In order to get digital television, you should get a newer antenna as well. Those can be either indoor or outdoor systems and range in price. (Since WKYC is moving from a VHF to a UHF channel, you may not receive the over the air signals if you have a VHF only antenna). It is recommended for optimal viewing, you get a newer antenna, especially if you are in fringe areas or have trouble receiving over the air signals due to obstacles around your house.
For more information on DTV, CLICK HERE
4 comments:
We installed our converter box last winter, and have been unable to get WKYC at all (Medina).
Will the conversion you are doing to UHF finally make it available?
those old antennas up on your roof will not work either. In order to get digital television, you have to get a digital antenna as well.
THIS IS NOT TRUE! There's no such thing as a "digital" antenna. Making that distinction is simply a marketing scam for those who sell antennas. If you can receive a strong TV signal with your existing antenna, it will likely work after the changeover. There are catches. As part of the DTV switch, broadcasters may be changing their transmitted power, frequencies, antennas and/or transmitter locations. My old antennas work perfectly fine with the digital signals so far being broadcast, considering the catches I just mentioned.
The part about "those old antennas up on your roof will not work either" is not necessarily true. While many of these were more optimized for VHF reception ( and most digital stations are in the high VHF or UHF range ) they still will most likely work fine. There isn't anything special about a "digital" antenna.
You are correct, that may have been a little vague...but since WKYC is moving for a VHF frequency to a UHF frequency, those with specific band antennas will need to replace them with a VHF/UHF or get a "digital" antenna which the government recommends, especially in fringe areas or those wanting less dropout of signals.
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