The Missoulian from Missoula, Montana • 36

D6 Missoulian, Sunday, February 22, 2009 FROM PAGE D1 Learn Ratledge getting good reception with with your digital TV or with an analog TV and a converter box, be sure you have a good antenna. Rabbit ears can be problematic even in town. Out of town, an outside antenna is essential. An outdoor antenna in your attic will work better than than none at all. The idea is to get your antenna off the ground as far as you can to get out of "ground clutter." With either a digital TV or a TV converter box, be sure to rescan for channels, especially if you get a new antenna.

Stations numbers to call for help with TV converter boxes and other digital TV help are: KTMF: 542-8900, KEC1: 721-2063, KPAX: 542-4400, KUFM: 1-800-426-8243 and KSKC (in Pablo) 406-275-4878. And check www.dtv2009.gov for an announcement of new funding for the TV Converter coupon program. It's supposed to be in the pipeline in the next few weeks. Mark Ratledge is an information technology consultant in Missoula. Contact him through his Web site and blog at songdogtech.net.

to "at Northstar jet An aviation career or hobby Is affordable at Northstar Jet There has never been a better time to start! CALL NOW to Register 1 800-735-4476 www.northstarmso.com PRESENTS HE TRAIL" 103 3 up boxes and rescan with TVs. We made sure we had instruction booklets for all the available converter boxes on hand, and had staff ready to go on the phone bank." And what about the calls? "On Monday, we got about a dozen calls; and maybe 100 calls on Tuesday, but those were mostly during the time we were off the air. This weekend there are sports events and Academy Awards, and we'll get more calls then." So the switch is done for KTMF. What about other Missoula stations? KFUMMontana PBS, KECINBC and KPAXCBS are still broadcasting in analog alongside digital. KSKCPBS will remain analog until later in the spring, as it is low power and can change when needed.

But KMMF, the Fox affiliate, is a different story. According to publicly available FCC filings, the station has been given an extension until August to complete the necessary work to go to digital, but it appears that between June 12 the final analog cutoff and the time they are ready to go to digital they will be off the air. The reason for the extension is that the holding company of KMMF is in bankruptcy, and had the June delay for analog not come to pass, KMMF would be off the air right now because they don't have a companion digital channel. Anyone can search document filings for any station at the FCC Electronic Filing and Public Access system at snurl.comcbbcl If you're having trouble cut-off date this year was announced that things really started moving nationally," Gray said. So then why Feb.

17? "I think it was just pulled out of a hat; I'm not sure what the logic was," she said. "Obviously, the FCC didn't want it to affect the Superbowl, but the date is in the middle of a normal sweeps ratings period, which was postponed." And the reason for KTMF's decision to cut off analog? "It wasn't just financial. Our analog transmitters are old and we had everything in place to change, and the question for us was if we should roll the dice and try to keep analog going for four more months or stick with the original plan," Gray said. And with the news that so many communities around the country had smooth transitions, Gray feels that they made a good decision. (MaxMedia Montana also switched off analog in Butte and Great Falls.) I asked if they just flipped a switch at midnight on Tuesday, and Gray laughed.

(I didn't think it was that simple, but I had to ask anyway.) She said, "There was a setting that the engineers had to reconfigure and we were off the air for around four hours on Wednesday morning. Our engineer Roger Hatcher worked a total of over 29 hours straight; our engineering staff really has to be commended for a great job. "We got a lot of calls during that time because people didn't know if it was their converter box or their TV or what, but we were able to help people with directions to hook SUGGESS Continued reacted to consumer phone calls and to technical problems. One of their early decisions was what to do about their channel numbers. Gray said that "digital allocations were made in the late 1990s, so we've been working on this for a long time.

When the FCC made the channel assignments, they gave us the opportunity to go back to the original channel assignment after the digital switch. We looked at our signal propagation on paper and after some tests, we decided we'd stay with our old channel 23 instead of going with channel 36." The channel switch went like this: "When we shut off channel 23 analog, we also shut off our low-power digital channel 36 because we had a new digital transmitter on 23 ready to go on Tuesday at midnight. That new signal appears as digital channel 23.1 on a TV converter box or a digital TV. So our analog channel 23 and digital low power channel 36 are now gone, and our channel 23 digital is now full power." Digital was a long process, she told me. The FCC began looking at digital TV in the late 1980s after Japan demonstrated their own HDTV standard way back in 1983.

Then, the FCC announced that May 1, 2002, was to be the deadline for all full-power stations to have digital transmitters running, according to Wired.com (snurl.comcbn2r). "But it wasn't until the hard Jobless Continued In Missouri, for instance, 94,883 people claimed unemployment benefits through debit cards from Central Bank. Analysts say a recipient uses a card an average of six to 10 times a month. If each cardholder makes three withdrawals at an out-of-network ATM, at a fee of $1.75, the bank would collect nearly $500,000. If half of the cardholders also dial customer service three times in any given week (the first time is free; after that, it's 25 cents a call), the bank's revenue would jump to more than $521,000.

That would yield $6.3 million a year. Rachel Storch, a Democratic state representative, received a wave of complaints about the fees from autoworkers laid off from a suburban St. Louis Chrysler plant. She recently urged Gov. Jay Nixon to review the state's contract with Central Bank with an eye toward reducing the fees.

"I think the contract is unfair and potentially illegal to unemployment recipients," she said. Central Bank did not return two messages seeking comment. With the national unemployment rate now at 7.6 percent, the market for bank-issued unemployment cards is booming. In 2003, states paid only $4 million of unemployment insurance through debit cards. By 2007, it had ballooned to $2.8 billion, and by 2010 it will likely rise to $10.5 billion, according to a study conducted by Mercator Advisory Group, a financial industry consulting firm.

The economic stimulus plan signed by President Barack Obama this week will increase federal unemployment benefits by $40 billion this year. Subsequently, there will be more money from which banks can collect fees. The U.S. Department of Labor allows the fees as long as -sW'', That's what mare and stallion owners want for their progressive breeding programs. Copper Spring Ranch offers the finest breeding and AI services available.

Dr. Rod Warren, Montana's leading Equine Reproduction Specialist brings more experience in AI to our Equine Medical Center than any other facility in Montana. Dr. Warren has managed breeding programs for some of the nations most notable farms and bloodlines. In addition, Dr.

Warren has extensive hands-on experience with legendary stallions such as Easy Jet, Beduino and First Down Dash, to name a few. Our services include: Artificial Insemination Embryo Transfer Cycle Management 'Problem Mare' Assistance Copper Spring Ranch also offers an extensive closed recipient mare program offering only hand picked and gentle mares for lease or purchase. You can count on CSR Equine for the most advanced technology and medical diagnosticsequipment available. Success. You'll find it at Copper Spring Ranch Equine Medical Center, just four miles west of Four Corners.

states create a way for recipients to get their money for free, spokeswoman Suzy Bohnert said. "Beyond that, the individual decides how to manage his drawdowns using the debit card," she said in an e-mail. A typical contract looks like the agreement between Citigroup and the state of Kansas, which took effect in November. The state expects to save $300,000 a year by wiring payments to Citigroup instead of printing and mailing checks. Citigroup's bill to the state: zero.

The bank collects its revenue from fees paid by merchants and the unemployed. "If you use your card the right way, you're not going to pay fees at all," said Paul Simpson, Citigroup's global head of public sector, health care and wholesale cards. But that's not always practical. Arthur Santa-Maria, a laid-off engineer who lives just outside Albuquerque, N.M., said he didn't pay any fees the first time he was laid off, for several months in 2007. His unemployment benefits were paid by paper checks.

He found a new job last year but was laid off again last fall. This time, he was issued a Bank of America debit card -a "prepaid" card in industry lingo but he was surprised to learn he had to pay fees to get his money. He asked the bank to waive them. It said no. That's when Santa-Maria called back to ask how to check his account online.

He logged on and saw that the call cost him a half dollar. To avoid more fees, Santa-Maria found a Bank of America ATM at a strip mall and withdrew $80 at no charge. When he got back to his car, he decided to take out the rest of his money $250 and deposit it in his bank account. Afterward, Santa-Maria logged on to his account and saw a charge of $1.50 for two withdrawals in one day. "They're trying to use my money to make money," Santa-Maria said.

"I just see banks trying to make that 50 cents or a buck and a half when I should be given the service for free." Fussy nesters appreciate our 100 natural handmade futons. cyyonders miiniD! FiiToas 125 S. H.ggins Mon-Sat 10 30-5 30 721-2090 smai'wonders'utons com I i Cycle Management Ln ill A Embryo vq Transfer i. i I Artificial Insemination i i 1 7 (h COPPER SPRING RANCH Bozeman, Montana 406.522.4044 cql-im medical cith wvvw.copperspringranch.com.