With national awareness of the digital television (DTV) transition approaching near-universal levels, NAB recently released new television spots highlighting the importance of antennas as its education campaign shifts focus to ensuring Americans are properly equipped to make the switch.

The new spots encourage viewers to make sure their homes are equipped with antennas best able to receive digital signals from their local TV stations. Available in English and Spanish, the 30-second closed captioned spots were distributed to broadcasters across the country and can be viewed here.

Antennas are among many factors that may affect a viewer's ability to receive broadcast signals from television stations. After the transition, some stations may move to a different channel number in a different frequency band, either UHF or VHF. Viewers will need to have the right type of antenna to continue watching those stations, and in some cases, they may need to upgrade their antennas to ensure they get all of the free digital channels available in their area.

Generally, the same antenna that currently provides quality reception on an analog TV set will also provide good DTV reception. However, factors such as an antenna's height, position and type - whether it is UHF, VHF or a combination - may also impact TV reception. Consumers can find suggestions for good outdoor antennas by entering their street address at www.AntennaWeb.org, a Web site provided by NAB and the Consumer Electronics Association.

By law, all full-power television stations must begin broadcasting only in digital on February 17, 2009. NAB is leading an education campaign valued at more than $1 billion to educate Americans about the transition.