I've got 2 TVs that are not hooked to cable boxes. I got a Digital Converter box from Radio Shack and if I hook it up to the first point in the house where the roof antenna splits then I can get some channels off the silly thing.

Unfortunately, the two tvs that are orphaned are at the end of the cable bus - 3 & 4 splitters down the line. I still get a (fair) picture on them hooked to the roof antenna, but at that point on the bus, the converter box says the signal is too weak for it to operate.

The wiring everything is running on is RG-59. It was a state of the art installation 30 years ago, when I bought the house, but now I guess it's not worth jack.

I don't use one of these tvs at all (it's in my son's old room) and the other only briefly (it's by the laundry room). It didn't pay to put boxes on them when I went to FIOS and I've just let them slide.

My wife is now making noises about converting my son's old room to a guest room and she thinks it would be nice to have a tv in it. Not nice enough to put a box on it, but if it could get local programming, that would be enough. She'd also like to watch tv while she folds laundry in the basement (15 minutes a week?)

So what, if any, are my options?

Can I replace the roof antenna with one that will work post-conversion? (Note that our over-the-air reception has sucked since the Towers came down.)

How about a signal amplifier? Would that work?

I really don't want to recable and I really don't want to spring for boxes.

I'm inclined to throw the sets out and be done with them.

TIA,

Sam

"Where are we going and why are we in this hand basket?"