Digital TV isn’t technically a ham radio subject, but since it involves RF I consider it related. And, I like new toys. So, I signed up for the coupons the government’s offering for upgrading analog TV’s. I received my coupon a couple of weeks ago, and this week went in search of a digital TV box. I live near a mall, so I didn’t have to go very far; I also had a couple of other consumer electronics related things to look for, and Best Buy was on the way home from work, so that’s where I went shopping.

They make it easy; in front of the department full of HD TV’s (most of which wouldn’t fit in my apartment, much less on my credit card) was a display of Insignia Coupon Eligible Digital TV Converters for $59.99. There’s only one eligible model. So no, you don’t get a lot of choices, unless you want to drive around to different stores checking out what features each retailer’s box includes. (I didn’t shop around.)

Included with the box was a power adapter, an RF cable, an audio/video cable, a remote with battery, and a short & sweet instruction manual. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t need to buy anything else to make DTV work. (I will need to do some additional cabling to get my analog DVD player to coexist with the DTV box, as my TV only has a single coax RF input.) Channel programming was automatic, and simple; I did have to set my local time zone using the setup menus. With DTV, I have an onscreen channel guide that shows what’s on now and what’s on next, closed captioning, text, the ability to change the aspect ratio, access to the second audio program, and content access controls.

My antenna (if you want to call it that) is a 4-foot length of speaker wire alligator clipped to my window blinds—so if you have an antenna that barely works now, you may be surprised at what DTV does for you. Using analog, my local channels were generally pretty clear except for channel 3 (which was usually quite snowy). I often had ghosts, and got an occasional burst of audio static. With DTV, I get all of my local channels with no snow and no ghosts.

I also have some extra channels now. Instead of analog 3, 15, 21, 27, 47, and 57, I now have 3-1, 3-2, 15-1, 15-2, 21-1,21-2,21-3,21-4,21-5,47-1,and 57-1. Each broadcaster has slightly different programming available; your mileage here will vary. NBC 15-2 has weather, and WHA (PBS) has different programming on –2, -3, and –4 depending on the time of day. WHA also simulcasts Wisconsin Public Radio (including HD radio) when they’re not showing TV programming on each of those channels. DTV 3-2 carries My Madison TV14, which on broadcast is only available on DTV. As they say, check your local listings.

So, what’s the verdict? Yes, making the change is worth the effort. The sound and picture are better, even on my old TV. There are still times when there’s nothing on—TV is still TV—but by adding one small set top box I was able to increase my options and make my TV useful for a while longer. If only upgrading amateur radio equipment was so easy.

Coupons are available online at https://www.dtv2009.gov/ .

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