Nine months from now WEEK and other television stations around the country will be turning off their analog signal. After February 17, 2009, you will only be able to receive our digital signal over the air.

If you have an old style picture tube television like this one honoring Mickey Mouse, you will need to buy a digital converter box to receive an over the air signal. News 25 Managing Editor Max Jacobs lives in a rural area and is already bringing in WEEK's digital signal.

"Once people get the converter box, they are having some difficulty, (it is not widespread) but some difficulty in hooking these boxes up to their tv sets," WEEK General Manager Mark DeSantis says.

Max demonstrates how easy it is to hook up the system using a Zenith digital TV converter. Each brand is a little different. But all perform the same function. First, with everything off, unplug your antenna or rabbit ears and plug or connect them directly in to the coax cable jack on the back of the converter labeled "TV Antenna In."

Next, run a line from the "Out" or "TO TV" coax jack to the television. Now you can turn on the converter box first, and then the television.

Finally, run through the quick couple of steps spelled out in the converter box manual to automatically tune in the digital channels.

"With an analog signal, if you get a week signal, it would manifest itself with kind of a fuzzy picture. But you would still get a picture and sound. With digital, the signal is there or it is not. If there is an interruption or interference to the signal it drops off to black," DeSantis says.

If your TV is no longer picking up a favorite channel, one trouble shooting option is to replace your rabbit ear antenna with a rooftop mount or raise the antenna that is already on your roof.

Max likes the new digital signal because it provides an on air tv guide just like cable. But this guide and digital signal is free.

If you belong to a community group or business organization, you may be interested in having an expert put on a presentation on the digital television changeover. To coordinate a presentation, you need to call Kate Wade at this number in Washington D.C. Her number during regular business hours is 202-232-6627.