I'm still without television as the converter boxes don't work on my old 1985 Quasar TV set. I have jumped through hoops and wasted too much of my life since February trying to make the converter box changeover and nothing works. You can read the full article at
"Converting Analog Televisions to Digital TV Not as Easy as Promised"Magnavox DTV Digital to Analog Converter Box # TB1110MW9 and Other Converter Boxes Do Not Work on My TelevisionI don't watch a lot of television, but I do depend on my TV during tornadoes or other crisis, so I have tried and tried to make this work. If I hold the converter box just right, occasionally I can pull in a pixilated black and white picture with no sound but a hiss. The picture lasts a few seconds before it is gone. Usually I can't pull it in again for several hours or several days.
On June 17 after some midday storms, the sky cleared and the sun came out. There were no warnings on the radio, so I turned on the TV, stood like the Statue of Liberty holding my antenna high over my head and was able to briefly pull in a pixilated black and white weather map that showed no activity in my area. I packed the dogs in the car, drove to the park with the radio on - no alerts - and proceeded to walk my dogs. Halfway through our 2 1/2 mile hike tornado sirens started blaring. Apparently most people in Nashville could turn on their television sets and see that the first storm had passed but a much worse storm cell was headed our way, but I couldn't get that information thanks to the good ol' FCC. The FCC has really shafted those of us in the lower income brackets and put us in harm's way because we can't get the weather maps or other alerts provided by local television stations.
A friend of mine in Wylie, Texas says Spanish-language channels are still broadcasting in Spanish in her area because it is known the poorer people are the ones who can't afford to make the switchover, and it is assumed all the poor people in Texas are Mexicans -- many of them illegal. While it is so nice of the FCC to make allowances for Spanish speaking people in Texas, what about
ME? What about average American taxpayers who have lost their income and now can't even see a weather alert on their TV?
I also know folks who have purchased a new digital TV after having problems with the converter boxes, and their new digital TVs won't work unless they pay more money to switch to cable or satellite!
We were promised this would be simple: "
It's easy!" says the www.dtv2009.gov website, so we all just let this happen. After all, the government said it would be easy, so enough said, right???
You may not care, because you probably have satellite or cable or a budget that will allow you to purchase new TVs and outdoor antennas, but those of us who are on fixed incomes can't afford to buy a new TV, switch to cable, get satellite or have outdoor antennas installed on our houses. This should serve as a wakeup call - the U.S. government can make a decision, promise citizens it will be easy, and then leave a great deal of its people in much worse state than they were before. Next time the government talks about changing our lives and promises it will be
easy, I will be asking a LOT more questions.
More on this at:
Converting Analog Televisions to Digital TV Not as Easy as Promised
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