A laggard bemoans the passing of analogue

Tonight I am grumpy because as of tomorrow, the government's desicion to sell the airwaves for 4G telephone communication will make the 2nd-hand television that I've owned since 1998 obsolete, and there is nothing on the market that can replace it in its as-is state. If I want to be able to see the news again while cooking tea, or pick up on Newsnight as I'm sorting the dog's tablets out just before bed, I will have to spend a huge amount more than the £10 that television cost me back at the end of the last century.

So what's the problem, I hear you say? I will admit that as far as consumers go, I am a laggard - a "forced adopter" in the terms of innovators - as I could have bought a digital compatible television some time before. There's the rub - it is the terms of the forced adoption that I am angry about. I shouldn't have to buy anything else, as I have bought my television, and I buy my TV license, so why should I have to buy anything else?

The old television still has an excellent picture - a black & white picture - and it doesn't require an external aerial. The wire loop built-in to the back of the set has allowed it to receive signals from more than one transmitter for the past 14 years, it has worked in the depths of Devon valleys and even in the depths of the kitchen with the extension shielding the back of the house.

I could buy a digibox, but I would still need an aerial to attach to that, and the advice given by the digital switchover telephone line is that I will find difficulty in buying a free-standing aerial that will allow use of a digital box, as we live too far away from the nearest transmitter (50km) and will probably need an aerial external to the house. This makes a mockery of the idea of a small television being that it is portable, being portable, as there will need to be a socket for the aerial in every room in the house to allow this.

Added to this, it turns out the digital box we have may also be obsolete, as it was bought over 5 years ago - some are not compatible with the new digital signals. Why were these types of receivers allowed to be sold in this country when it was known that it would eventually become obsolete? Are we not meant to be reducing the amount of electrical waste that we churn out?

Then there's the cost of the electricity, and added plug sockets required for each digibox that is needed, too. When not being watched these will need to be unplugged to prevent the low-level draw of current required for the devices' transformer. Think about this for a bit - sooner or later, every country in the develoed and developing world will have digital television - can you imagine the sudden increase in CO2 emissions when China switches off its analogue TV signal, and all manner of digiboxes are switched on?

Tomorrow they switch off the analogue signal.