Hawai'i is converting to digital television signals on January 15, 2009, one month earlier than required by law. Why are we switching early? Well . . .
Federal wildlife officials suggested tearing down the old analog transmission towers earlier to avoid interference with the nesting season of a bird, the endangered Hawaiian petrel.Petrels, also known as the ’Ua’u, are only found in Hawaii, and more than 1,000 of them nest on the slopes of Maui’s Haleakala volcano, where the analog towers are currently located. The nocturnal species, which reportedly has a chirp that sounds like a yapping puppy, is not adapting well to urban sprawl: The birds are disoriented by city lights and sometimes get caught on wires. Officials think rebuilding the towers at a different location, away from the petrel’s nesting sites, will give them some peace to nest, and help the species’ survival in the long term.
All three of our permanent televisions are cabled already, so they're not affected. But. About 18 months ago we bought a portable TV/radio for emergency use. While it will work perfectly well for radio reception, it will no longer pick up broadcast television broadcast signals once the TV stations switch over to all-digital.
If you want to keep your old analog TV, you have to buy a digital-to-analog converter box. The Feds are offering $40 coupons to help cover the cost of the box (since this conversion is mandated by Federal law). There are lots of converter boxes available, but there's only one I've found which can be run off a battery pack, which is what you'd need in an emergency like a hurricane, when in all likelihood the power would be knocked out. It's not $40, it's $59, and the battery pack is another $15. Add $14 S&H and we're up to $88, and you can't add two coupons together to offset the cost.
Rats.
Posted by Linkmeister at November 21, 2008 12:01 AM | TrackBack