Digital TV changeover: The disaster everyone's ignoring?

Oooooh. Slick. I stole a headline from an article and made it my own by making it a question, rather than a statement. I so smart.
I’m sure that somewhere you have heard, read, or seen stories and rumors of the dreaded DTV transition. You’ve likely heard people panicked in some fashion over not being able to watch TV unless they do a ton of upgrades to their entertainment system. Heck, I nearly got into an argument at a Christmas dinner over someone’s misconceptions of the DTV transition. (see here: http://twitter.com/kg4vma/status/1078226274 and here: http://twitter.com/kg4vma/status/1078227108)
Honestly, I’ve been enjoying the confusion. Reading and listening to the mess has been very entertaining, and has even brought me several laughs. One of the latest articles I read is included amongst those gems.
In an article Dvorak wrote for MarketWatch, he illustrates some of the issues he foresees when the stations pull the plug on their analog transmissions. He also shares his thoughts on how ignorant the government has seemed to be in handling the rebate program–that point I fully agree with.
But the entertainment value of Dvorak’s article, for me anyway, came in reading through the comments, especially those which went back to the second bullet point he listed:

Rabbit ears will not work. The public is going to be in for a big surprise in the discovery that OTA digital signals are not as forgiving as the old analog signals. In many instances, it will be impossible to pick up a signal inside the house unless the transmitter is nearby. An outdoor antenna will be needed, in most instances.

Why is that part so amusing?
Well, I am using such an antenna on both of our sets. Prior to using the one set of rabbit ears, I was using a very low gauge wire twisted around a coat-hanger that I had bent into a shape resembling a UHF loop antenna.
And, yes, I am receiving and viewing digital signals–and had on my makeshift antenna.
The hilarity that I find is seeing people complain about needing new antennas. Truth be told, they may not. This is part of the argument I had at Christmas, that I mentioned earlier.
My dearest aunt’s husband was trying to convince my father and I that my grandmother needed to buy a new digital antenna because the one she had wasn’t going to work come February, and that the reason why she couldn’t receive a certain set of channels. Well, he was partly right, but mostly wrong…
My grandmother does need a new antenna, but not a “digital antenna” as there is no such thing. No, my grandmother would likely benefit from an actual television antenna (like a set-top VHF/UHF combo–sold everywhere for countless years), and not the small AM loop she is using. (Yes, she’s using an AM loop, or at least a very small UHF loop. That would be part of her reception issues. That and she lives in an apartment on the furthest side of town, in a valley, by several commercial structures. Oh, and if you were to check with the NAB, you’d see that due to our distance from the nearest transmitters, indoor antennas weren’t even recommended for analog television reception! The other part of the argument was over the channel re-assignment thing. Only one of the station she’s currently receiving has moved/will move to VHF. He was also trying to argue that she would need an antenna with a bowtie/reflector  design for the VHF–unless I am terribly mistaken, this design is for better UHF reception.)
The ignorance of my aunt’s husband, and of the consumers Dvorak speaks of, sadly, is real. And it’s this ignorance that I plan on exploiting.
How many antennas and televisions are floating around out there–or will be–sitting unused due to the DTV transition? A gross number of sets and antennas have been and will continue to be thrown to the curb. Perfectly good equipment, tossed to the side, despite the TV crawlers, advertisements and news articles. And while Dvorak foresees a huge transition to cable or satellite due to the conversion, as people try to find ways of keeping their equipment, I see confused people on cable chucking their old TVs because they think that a mandatory digital cable transition is occurring.
Within the next few weeks, I plan to be on a scavenger hunt, seeking out televisions and antennas on sidewalks, in dumpsters, in second-hand and pawn shops. (I’ll be looking extra hard for the sidewalk and dumpster items–they’re free!)
No, not everyone is ignoring the forthcoming disaster. I am paying close attention to it, in hopes of finding a big-screen or flat-panel that has been tossed to the side.
Read Mr. John C. Dvorak (slash blog)’s article at MarketWatch:

Digital TV changeover: The disaster everyone’s ignoring – MarketWatch.