January 5

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January 5, 2009

To: Our Fellow Members

This weekend, Luther installed a digital converter box in the RV. This box allows an analog television to receive a digital broadcast from our batwing rooftop antenna. He elected to install this box, because we like to watch local television when we are traveling. Yes, if the campground offers cable then you will still be able to receive a digital broadcast to watch the local channels. Also, if you have a newer television that has a digital tuner you will not need a converter box. In our case, the campground where we are staying does not offer cable nor do our televisions have a digital tuner, so we would have to order cable service from a local company. At home, we have satellite service with the added local channel feature, so we don’t need one there.
We would like to share with you our post-installation experiences which are listed below. After the installation of the converter box we were able to receive broadcasts from 9 local channels. Whereas before we were only able to receive a broadcast from 4 channels. The picture on our analog television is as clear as if we were receiving the broadcast from a cable or satellite connection. This is true for all of the 9 channels. Many of the features offered by satellite television became available. Like an onscreen clock, description of what is been shown on the channel, etc. So, for those of you who watch television from your batwing antenna and like to continue to get the local news, local weather, etc., then give serious consideration to installing a converter box in your RV if you haven’t done so. As of February 17, 2009 almost all of the broadcast will be in the digital format, which means you will not be able to receive their signal from your current analog television without a converter box. Most, if not all of you, probably know that the U.S. government is offering a $40 coupon for the purchase on specific converter boxes. This coupon really lessens the cost of this box. The website for obtaining this coupon is:

http://www.dtv.gov/

This is our tidbit for January!

Luther and Carolyn

May 5,2009

We have noticed as we travel from state to state if you have replaced your television sets with HD sets you will not need a Satellite system to gain local programming. As more stations come on board with digital programming the more channels you will pick up with your Antenna, therefore unless you just want satellite service for a reason other than reception you will not need this added expense. This will save the average RVer hundreds of dollars per year and in fact the reception is better than satellite in most places.