During hurricanes or severe weather, you may have used battery powered portable televisions to keep up with our First Alert Storm Team coverage. But after the digital TV switch next year, many of you may be left in the dark.
When a hurricane makes landfall, often times, because of power outages, that means relying on a battery powered TV during the storm. Next February, analog battery powered TVs will no longer work on their own.

Keith Vrazel, a News 5 Engineer says, "Next year, during hurricane season, if you are expecting to use your battery powered portable TV, you are going to be in a fix. Unfortunately, the conversion box that you will need to use an analog television set is not battery powered."

Without power, the converter box does you no good. Vrazel says, "It kind of defeats the purpose of having a battery powered set if you can't tune in your signal."

The FCC does not require companies to make battery powered analog to digital converters. And they say no manufacture has stepped up to produce these converters.
That means your battery power TV will look like snow.

There are a handful of digital battery powered TVs on the market. However, it might take some luck finding one. I made a couple of quick phone calls to electronic stores around the Mobile area, and only found one that had a portable DTV, but it will cost you.

John Hatten is the manager at Radio Shack in the Bel Air Mall. He says, "The transition is costly for consumer and for the stations. I'm just not sure of a cheaper way of doing it."

The only battery powered DTV available in our area will cost close to 200 dollars.
Hatten adds, "Anybody from the state of Florida to Brownsville, Texas needs to have something like this. If your power goes out, you can still check and see what is going on in your area."

The battery for this TV will last 3 to 4 hours and you can charge it using the cigarette lighter in your car. That is, if you can make it to your car in the middle of a storm.

I spoke with people at the FCC, but they have no real solution for your old battery powered TVs. The Consumer Electronics Association believes there will be more options on the market the closer we get to the DTV switch on February 17th.