Back in May we told you about Tom Allibone, a longtime telecommunications consultant who had appointed himself an “FCC Deputy,” looking out for his fellow consumers in the runup to the national transition to digital broadcasting next February.

DeputyTom told us his own personal tale of trying to be ready for the DTV transition. In a nutshell, he is facing a total bill of $650 to buy a new, high-tech antenna and get it installed so he can continue to get the same channels he now watches just fine with his old analog TVs.

He concluded with these words: “The government claims that this should go smoothly… and has spent hundreds of millions of dollars for us to drink the Kool-Aid – only to find out that it's now undrinkable purple stuff for millions of customers.”

Luckily for consumers, Deputy Tom has stayed on the job since then and he is out with a new report this week that should send chills down the spine of anyone who depends on over-the-air free television – and hopefully the government officials in charge of the transition.

After his original report and an article in the local newspaper, Tom started hearing from his neighbors in Hunterdon County, NJ, which is located about 60 miles from both Philadelphia and New York City. The county’s residents have always been able to receive analog TV signals from both cities without much problem, but it appears that won’t be the case when the national switchover to DTV occurs next February.

One Hunterdon resident who has been able to receive more than a dozen major network stations from Philadelphia and New York with no problem with his old analog equipment and a large rooftop antenna reports being unable to pick up any of those stations with his digital converter box, with the exception of PBS. In fact, he gets three different versions of his local PBS station with his DTV equipment, but nothing else.

Deputy Tom says he is getting similar reports from dozens of other Hunterdon residents. Nearly all who are hooking up and testing their digital converter boxes are finding they can’t get any of the New York stations they now get in analog. A few are getting some Philadelphia stations with their digital converter boxes, but fewer than they did with standard analog equipment.

Deputy Tom says he is afraid there are hundreds or even thousands of communities like Hunterdon County where the digital transition could be a disaster. He particularly worries about senior citizens who depend on free over-the-air television as their primary link to the outside world, particularly during emergencies.

So do we.

Earlier this month there was test switchover to DTV in Wilmington, NC. In recent testimony before Congress, Federal Communications Commission Kevin Martin said in essence the Wilmington test had been a success, with relatively few problems.

As we've said in earlier blogs, there is a very big problem with touting what happened in Wilmington as a fair bellwether of what will likely happen when the nationwide switchover actually occurs next February. The Wilmington market is quite small and has relatively few people who depend on over-the-air broadcasting. It’s also extremely flat, which means broadcast signals there are able to travel long distances and remain strong.

Places like Hunterdon are more typical, with hills and big buildings that get in the way of broadcast signals and makes reception more difficult.

In places like Hunterdon there is a good chance the whole community will lose its over-the-air broadcasting, not just a few folks scattered around the countryside.

We hope the government officials at the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Commerce will stop patting themselves about what happened in Wilmington and truly tackle the huge problems the DTV transition is likely to create in places like Hunterdon.