Reply #71: Ok, this is my sorta long explanation.....

[emmadoggy]

We live in a rural area, in a nexus of three different television markets. We also live on fairly high terrain. So first off, this puts us in an advantageous position. Next we have a roof mounted antenna with a booster and a rotor.

Overall, since the switch to digital our reception has improved. Our stations come in very clearly and we've only very seldom had any problems with losing signal. And of course, now the local stations have more "channels" so we have even more choices to watch than before.

Oh, I should also mention that we do not have cable/satellite tv. Never have (well, except for 3 months back in the late 80's, as a trial, and for 3 months back in 2002 when we were living in a transitional place in town and had to have basic cable just to get ANYTHING.)

Our only complaint comes not from our digital reception, but simply the limits of our new tv's tuner. It, for some reason, can't save our channels after a channel scan with our antenna tuned to one direction and then ADD channels when we scan from another direction. Pretty disappointing. Our converter boxes were able to do this, and our smaller, more inexpensive digital tv in our bedroom is able to do this. So we've had to sacrifice a few channels because of this, but they were only duplicates of networks we can get from other stations.

Overall, we are pretty happy with the switch. Of course, you were asking about an urban setting, so this is probably all moot to you anyway! :P