Leave it to the government to do things that are entirely stupid. Having the DTV changeover on Feb. 17 is one of them. The majority of Americans are coping with snow and ice and cold weather in February. At the same time, these same people are stuck indoors and watching more tv than they do in warmer weather.
On Feb 17th the analog signals will be gone, and everyone will have to get their converter boxes working or they will see a blank screen. While some people have already gotten their converters working, many of us (including myself), have tried them, and found then inferior because the stations are still sending out a low powererd dtv signal. They claim they will increase their power on Feb 17, which may or may not be true, because I'm sure this will not be an overnight change, and there will be technical problems.
So, beginning on February 17, how many people are going to fall off snow covered roofs, slip on icy ladders, fall off antenna towers, etc. while trying to do things to their antennas to get better reception. This is precisely where the government makes no sense at all. Why didn't they make the change in June, July, or August, when anyone can safely go on the roof, and when people can take their time getting things working because they are spending most of their time outdoors away from the tv.
I wonder how many people are going to end up in hospitals or dead from working on their antennas in freezing cold weather? I'm sure we'll see much of this on the news. (That's if we can see the news on our tv sets).
President elect Obama said he wants to extend the date of the changeover because the govt. ran out of money for the coupons. I hope that the date change occurs in warm weather. Maybe wait another 6 months, which would then occur in August. With any hope, Obama will have more sense than previous politicians.
Jim