A Thank you to the FCC and Federal Government

To whom it may concern,

I want to take a moment of my time to thank you for changing the television signals from analog to digital. It has given me such a clearer picture that it has actually improved my family life.

I am one of the few Americans left that watches television from over-the-air signal, meaning antenna. Our household has a reasonable income but I do not wish to pay for cable or satellite as more expenses are not needed and I we do not watch many of the stations that accompany the various packages. The content does not warrant the expense.

Living just outside the Greensboro, NC city limits, population about 205,000, I was able to watch (2) CBS, (2) NBC, (1) ABC, (2) Fox and (1) PBS affiliated stations from my town and another major city about 60 miles distant. Since going digital, the reception has become much clearer for (1) Fox and (1) ABC affiliated stations.

No longer am I able to receive continuous viewing of CBS or PBS. In good weather and in bad, these stations frequently seem to operate in stop-motion that you call "pixelation". This frequently occurs during the most desired part of the program. Some programs are completely unwatchable due to the stop-motion, even in good, clear weather.

To view the NBC affiliate is not possible, there is no signal for either station. It could be that the towers are located beyond reach for over-the-air transmission in my area. Prior to the switch, the "local" NBC affiliate was marginal at best, occasionally like watching a polar bear in a snow storm, but the affiliate from Raleigh was viewable. Now I can view neither.

The Fox affiliate reception is wonderful 95% of the time. The ABC affiliate is also good about 90% of the time.

I have tried orienting my antenna for best signal reception based on tower location, but it has shown no improvement. I even raised my antenna to no avail.

Because of the aforementioned issues, my family and I have taken to reading more books or working on projects around the home while listening to the radio. The television advertising money being spent are not reaching us, too bad for them. This has improved the look of my house and increased my breadth of knowledge.

Since I am unwilling to pay to watch television, that places me in the 5% category (I am guessing on that number) of people that do not have cable or satellite. I have a digital television that is great for watching movies on my DVD player, when I rent 6-8 times per year. It is more a paperweight than anything, needing dusted more than watched.

Yes, I cannot keep up with what is happening on Survivor, Lost, American Idol and the like, but there are other things to do in life and they can go on without me.

Not all technical improvements are for the better, so thanks for the time back.

Sincerely,
Unconnected Television Viewer in Suburban Greensboro, NC

PS: Because it provides content I desire and control, I am willing to pay for a connection to high speed internet service.

Super Bowl Commercial

Given most of you know my political stance, I found this commercial very funny. Especially the ending.

The latest Snow

It didn't happen here. We got rain and lots of it. 3 inches of rain, on relatively frozen ground. There is a small lake in my back yard, but, not the 2 feet so snow TGND is scheduled to receive.

I will find out as I must go to North-Central PA on Monday evening for a Tuesday appointment at a Paper mill. I will get to see a lot of the snow.

The snow

I know you have seen plenty of pictures of snow on the ground, so I will not post more. We got between 5-7 inches of it on Friday and Saturday of last week.

We live on a dead-end street, off a dead-end street, out in the county and they have plowed our street.The amazing thing about this snow is that the children of Guilford County are still not back in school. 3 Days for snow, and their spring break is about gone, used as make-up days for the no school.


They are calling for an ice storm to begin on Thursday evening lasting through Friday, but all the weather forecasters are hedging their bets, so it may bypass us.