Queue up for a digital set top box coupon for CT-100, etc...

[markthefixer]

You guys have got me on tenterhooks, checking for my coupons daily, practically assaulting the mailman every day as he stuffs the box.... east coast, west coast.... midwest???

Of course I already have the panasonic dmr-ez27 dvd recorder with atsc tuner going in a test setup, but the tv I use a lot (as I am sitting online) only has rf input, and it has OTA interference ( I posted on that interference years ago)...

The interference I have been fighting the last few years (switching power supplies somewhere nearby, when it's bad it can go all the way up to channel 23) doesn't bother the digital (so far).

I thought that the digital reception was better as far as extracting signal from noise, based on the fact that I have a beat up antenna with LOUSY VHF-LO band performance (54-88mhz), until I found out that ALL the DTV broadcasts except WBBM (on the channel 3 frequency) were on the UHF (19-53, 500-710mhz) band and I was comparing apples to potatos.......

Next I found out that WBBM here (atv=2) (dtv=3) is moving it's DTV transmission up to channel 12 (204-210mhz) on the feb 2009 changeover date. (Thanks to Paul R. of WBBM!!)

So THEN I had hopes that I could get away my beat up antenna or even ONLY a UHF antenna setup here in Chicago, after the feb 2009 changeover, but my latest information has the WLS (atv=7, 174-180mhz) channel 52 DTV dropping DOWN to channel 7!!!
Everything else IS and will STAY UHF....

I have TERRIBLE multipath on atv channel 7... I'm dreading how digital on that frequency will do... I know... aim AWAY from the transmitter....

If anybody is interested in the Chicago area TV channel assignments DTV and ATV, both current and future, I'll post them....

edit: one other tidbit, the LOW POWER ATV stations DO NOT have to change over.... and very few boxes are rumored to have switchable pass through depending upon channel assignments.... Thus those that view low power community based tv stations or the remote translator broadcasts have got even more fiddling around to do.... The low powered tv community tried to make that a requirement for the boxes, but it was made into a permitted or non-disqualifying feature of the boxes.