The VHF's Return after UHF (was Re: CH 40 Analog was shut down Sun nite)

[Mark Laurence]

On Dec 4, 2008, at 10:48 AM, Larry Weil wrote:

> At 01:18 AM 12/4/2008, Mark Laurence wrote:
>> On Dec 3, 2008, at 6:32 PM, Peter Q. George wrote:
>>
>>>  This is a very exciting time in television.
>>
>> I hope you're right.  I'm thinking "disastrous" for people who don't
>> live within 20 miles of a transmitter.  I've spent some time plugging
>> addresses into antennaweb for places I've lived in Central Mass. and
>> Maine, places that had decent reception from all major networks.
>> Once you throw the "digital" switch the channel choices drop to a
>> small handful.  In many towns around Worcester, you'd better learn
>> Spanish because channel 27 will be your only friend.
>
> To begin with, I think Antennaweb may be giving you info based on  
> the current digital channels, and not those after the switch.  As I  
> noted in a previous post, some of the digitals are going back to  
> VHF after the switch.  I think this may include some of the  
> Providence stations, and as I remember from when my sister went to  
> college in Worcester the Providence stations came in better there  
> than the ones from Boston.

In some Worcester locations Providence works, but not all of them.   
Antennaweb is including the planned changes in February with the VHF  
moves.  But the new stations are not indicated in most of the  
locations I tried.
>
> That said, here in Salem, NH, I receive all the current digitals  
> from Boston and NH, as well as WMTW-DT from Maine.  Granted, I have  
> an antenna 30 feet up with a rotator, which not everyone has.  But  
> we can't stop the world just because a few people are unwilling to  
> do anything to deal with the change.

That's a good answer for people who haven't done anything, but what  
about the people who have:

1. applied for the coupon
2. gone to the store to buy a converter
3. gone back to the store to buy a connection that wasn't included
4. bought a new antenna
5. spent hours rotating the antenna and resetting the converter

And in February they can't get anything off-air except channel 27?

The pictures are great when it works, but this is not a great system.