I have a digital converter box for one of my TV's that is in a room with no cable. It's an RCA model DTA800B1. At the time I bought it, it was one of the best reviewed converter boxes on the market and it was around $40.00.

You'll have to remember you need an antenna designed to receive digital signals. I bought mine for under $20.00; you can get them almost anywhere you can buy converter boxes. The trickiest part of the whole scenario is figuring out where the antenna should go (in the room the TV is in). Picking up digital signals is much more difficult than picking up analog signals with rabbit ears.

Anyway, you hook the antenna up to the box and the box up to the TV. Power it all up and program the box by doing a channel surf. Depending on where you are in Rochester (and where your antenna is), you should get anywhere from 5 to 15 stations. I get 9.

If you find you get poor reception on some channels and good reception on others - move the antenna around. But be sure to re-scan for channels every time you do that.

With the conversion to digital, there's no longer a distinction between VHF and UHF. Whatever stations are broadcasting in your vicinity, you should get.

© 2010 Eric Toohey - Judge of 'Truthiness' - 2/7/10

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