Converter box working for you?

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Glen

I have heard that the signal did not cut over as planned on the Big Island. I don't know what the problem was.

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There was about a 20 minute delay on a few stations..

All Channels switched fine other then that, except for PBS which didn't because of an error on their end and still have not switched.

I posted a Media Release on my blog from PBS on the 13th if your curious as to why they didn't start up yet.

[seekir]

I have since been receiving KHBC fairly well up here (I'm right across from Akatsuka's Orchid Farm above the 22mile marker on the way to Volcano). Seems the signal might be stronger in the evening? At times the signal on this channel is absolutely pristine, and the image is startling with rich color on my smallish analog TV, but generally there are dropouts that make dialogue and action difficult to follow. No PBS so far. The scan picked up three other channels during a moment of strong reception, but so far they are essentially not receivable normally.

I bought the Magnavox at Wal-mart. About $11.00 with the coupon. Seems like an okay unit, fairly easy to set up. Has an analog pass-through for channel 5, but it's a pain to change to analog, requiring a visit to a menu, and another menu visit to get back to digital.

[loffelkopffl]

bought two rca units, i'm up here in mt. view, get more channels with clearer picture than before, we now get cbs,fox,nbc,abc,cw,some bible thumper channels, and the weather channel

[Carey]

I am not sure that there are many TV viewers in areas like Seaview that have antennae transmission of signals... Even in Lower HPP there were no TV signals with an antennae... most everyone one that wanted TV in the lower, more remote ares probably has dish or cable

For those that do not know why, Hawaii converted to Digital one month earlier than the FCC date in order that the transmission tower work would not interfere with bird migration & nesting.

[Bullwinkle]

7 digital (no pbs yet) and three analog up here in fern acres using a 50$ radioshack outdoor antenna and 20ft of conduit to hold it up, bolted to the catchment tank - (makes a great ground plane).

"Getting a bead" on the transmitter seems to be more critical as the signal seems much narrower

digital Channel 11 seemed to be the one to home in on being the weakest other than 14 which seems to come and go -

[Bob Orts]

Also, in this transition, your analog TV antenna may work at receiving the digital signals but it's not an absolute. Changing to a digital designed antenna is supposed to fix that problem. Now be careful, there are a lot of digital antenna that resemble non digital antennas so make sure you are buying a true digital antenna and not a resticker analog antenna.bob orts

[Menehune]

Aloha!

We have forsaken TV for internet service (AWS, no cable or dsl available) - web cam with granddaughters first steps was "priceless" - but an antenna with converter box only requires a one time cost - no monthly fees.
Carey said: "Even in Lower HPP there were no TV signals with an antennae... most everyone one that wanted TV in the lower, more remote ares probably has dish or cable."
Her knowledge is encyclopedic but she lives in Keaau - any first hand experience from people living near the ocean in HPP?
What about an antennae mounted on a second story roof - with an additional length of pole?

Mahalo!

"Each thing I do I rush through so I can do something else" - Cemetery Nights/Stephen Dobyns

[Carey]

Menehune, We moved from Lower HPP (near Beach & Makuu) in '06, at that time there was no antennae reception in the area... neighbors that wanted TV had dish there (no cable there at that time either...), but I think that cable has been run to the ol' neighborhood....
We moved to Keaau town to be closer to the university... TV reception was something we hadn't expected in the move...

[seekir]

Rotated my antenna about 10-15 degrees counter-clockwise to a more northerly (I think) direction last night and received digital 9.1, 11.1, 11.2 better (9.1 the strongest). 2.1 may be weaker with the antenna pointed this way. For some reason all channels show no signal this morning, don't know if it's due to atmospheric conditions or transmission interruption of some kind.

I wondered if there were dedicated digital antennas, thanks for letting us know Bob. Are they significantly better than the old analog units for digital signals?

[Greg]

I knew a couple that, when looking for a lot 20 years ago, took a small 12V television with rabbit ears around with them. Reception was a major factor in choosing a homesite. Ah, those primitive earth people.

I prefer to get my news online, and TV shows and movies through netflix. Television shows are especially appealing as each disc comes with several episodes that can be viewed consecutively and without commercials; and in any weather.