Going digital
Monday, January 12, 2009
Going digital
Are you ready for the conversion to digital television next month? Not sure?
Rob Hill of Hill’s Appliance will be the guest for an online chat at www.emporiagazette.com at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. He’ll answer readers’ questions about the conversion and the new technologies becoming available in home entertainment.
Submit your questions in advance on the Web site or during the chat and tune in to follow the chat live.
Town buys turbines
JETMORE — Within weeks, the western Kansas town of Jetmore plans to become the first town in the state to own its towers and turbines to produce wind energy.
It’s taken two years of research and planning but the town of 933 residents 29 miles north of Dodge City hopes to have its two refurbished wind chargers operating by the end of the month.
Various state schools have wind turbines, but Jetmore is the first official town in Kansas to have its own wind turbines and towers, said Jim Ploger, climate and energy programs manager with the Kansas Corporation Commission.
For more than 30 years, the town’s power plant has been used only for a backup power source, said Ray Burns, city superintendent.
Currently, Jetmore gets its electricity from Midwest Energy. It will continue that arrangement but when the two wind chargers are operating, they will feed directly into the city’s grid, producing 12 percent of the town’s energy.
The two units were built by West Wind Energy of Otis and were used in California before being sold to Jetmore.
Each tower, which will be a mile east of town on Hodgeman County land, costs $250,000 and has a five-year operation contract. That cost doesn’t pay for running the lines into the grid, which is similar to hooking into an extension cord, explained Lea Ann Seiler, director of Hodgeman County Economic Development.
Comments
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Posted by mds (anonymous) on January 13, 2009 at 8:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
One thing that people in rural area's without cable or satellite need to think about during the transition is that even if they have a converter box or a digital ready tv they need to make sure their antenna will pick up UHF bands. The VHF antenna will no longer work. There are many homemade DIY antenna's that work pretty good and watch out for the highway robbery on the retail ones. Alot of the amplified UHF antenna's are not worth their weight in plastic. I have been in communication for about 10 years and wonder why all the hype about the converter boxes and no mention of antenna's that are going to be just as much of an issue as the boxes if not more.
This video clip shows a simple DIY antenna that works fairly well for those who don't have the funds or the luxury of having cable/sat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTM...
Posted by OutsiderJ (anonymous) on January 13, 2009 at 9:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have to dispute the claim that digital TV is better over the airwaves. I bought a converter box with my govt. coupon. I was excited to bring it home and have static free TV and possibly get more than 2 channels. I got no channels and am back on the rabbit ears alone. If you live in a building made of concrete blocks, then you may have felt my pain. I got my money back and am looking forward to a life without TV in February. If anyone has any good tips for reception through cinder blocks, I'm all ears.
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