And neither one comes through when it rains.

I live in an area that knows rain.  Our average annual rainfall is around 150 inches (that's 12 1/2 feet if you prefer to look at it that way) and the year before last we had 186.  During late fall and early winter rainy days outnumber days without rain six or seven to one (i.e. if you get one day without rain per week you're doing about average.)

Yet, oddly, satellite television is fairly popular here.  I don't doubt that rainfall can degrade the signal reception somewhat, but I think there must be a bit more to it than "neither one comes through when it rains."

i love portland

I've never been.

i was attempting to make an admittedly lame joke about rain.  that said, i do love portland (oregon).  i can't really explain why.  it's a nice place to live.  it's in a beautiful area, there are interesting things to do and see, and it doesn't really feel like a city, more like "my town".  this post is way, way off topic.

to get back on topic, we have a very "normal" tv - a standard-definition crt with an ntsc tuner only - so, we'd be having to buy one of those tuner boxes, come the changeover, but we also have a small computer sitting around (a mac mini) that we weren't really using, so we got an elgato eyeTV for it, which has both an atsc and ntsc tuner in it.  we additionally picked up a smallish, powered antenna and we are able, with this combo, to pull in all the ota digital broadcasts that are available to us (and use the mini to record things).  

we won't need to worry about getting a converter box.  nor do i don't think we'll be bothering with a "fancy pants" set for some time to come.  several friends and family members have gone and gotten 50 inch hdtv monstrosities and i'm honestly not that impressed with the picture quality.  plus tv is, for the most part, not so incredibly awesome content-wise that i particularly need to have it in high-def and digital surround.  don't get me wrong, i like to veg in front of the boob toob, but 27 inches of 4:3 sd is already more than it deserves.

Oh crap. I'm supposed to go for the first time in July but I keep forgetting.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

That is weird...maybe I have older hardware. It only rains like 5 times a year here and each time the directv goes out completely. I always wondered how they have customers in places like Seattle.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

I have Dish Network. In the 10 months or so since I switched I've noticed ~3 or 4 outages. None lasted longer than an hour, most only a few minutes. For some reason you usually get five or ten minutes of outtage at the start of a major storm but once the storm is in full effect it's okay.

At least in my area the idea that it goes out when it rains is a big lie. And as a nice plus you don't have to deal with some angry person who can barely speak English when you call, which is almost never since I seldom have any issues with it. Unlike my cable company. I'm glad I kicked them to the curb. The only time they acted like they cared about my business was when I called to tell them I had switched to Dish and disconnect their shit from my house.

Yeah, I've never had any major problems with rain. Also, I have DVR, so on the rare occasion that the service does go out, I can watch something that's recorded and record the show I wanted to watch at a later time.