[QCWA] Digital TV

[Paul Walcott]

Has anyone heard the technical details of the upcoming
switch to Digital TV?  I'm not looking for an
engineering level treatise on the subject, but I'm
looking for a little more information than what I see
in the 30 second announcements that run on the local
TV.

As a ham I'm wondering about several things such as:
1)  Will the switch to digital involve stations (at
least the VHF stations) changing frequency, hopefully
up into the UHF range?  I've been hoping that the
change means no more channel 2 adjacent to 6 meters.

2)  Will the digital signals be more immune to TVI
than the current analog signals?  In a general sense
that seems to make sense, but I realize that I'm
speculating there.

I'm also wondering about a couple things simply
speaking as a TV viewer:  
A)  Will the switch to digital TV be a phased-in thing
or just a sudden overnight occurrence next February?  
Right now I've got one digital equipped TV attached to
an outside antenna.  I get all the normal analog
signals that I've always gotten, but when I enter the
menu to scan for digital signals, I only get one
channel, and that one is so weak as to be useless.

B)  If I don't decide to get cable, satellite will my
present VHF/UHF rooftop antenna probably be adequate
for local reception or will there be enough of a
change in frequency (as I asked above) to require
replacement?

C)  Are the converters for use with an older analog TV
available on the market yet?  I admit that I haven't
been shopping and asked about them yet, but I have
read the sales papers from Best Buy, Circuit City and
a couple of their competitors, and I haven't seen any
advertised yet.  They all seem much more interested in
selling new TV's.

D)  Am I the only one who's frustrated by the lack of
mid-level technical information about this subject? 
It seems that the only advice I've seen on the local
media is something like, "Get a digital TV, or cable,
or satellite, or if you don't, you'll need a 
converter.  

I admit that maybe I'm more touchy on this subject
than others as in the late 1960's and early 1970's I
made my living in TV repair, but I've since moved on
and am finding this present situation irritating.

73's,
Paul
WD8H