How do I get another city's local channels?

Why do people with a digital converter box get more channels than I do with my new digital TV?

• Apparently there are a number of new channels on TV, like channels 42-1, 42-2, etc, while I only get channels 7 and 42 on my 3 month old digital TV. The folks getting the extra channels are using a digital converter box on their analog TV's. I did autoprogram on my TV, no good. I have no way to type in channel 42-2, there is no dash or decimal on my remote. And when I enter 422, I just get channel 42, and then another 2 up on the screen (doesn't accept that large a channel number). Now, it is possible that the reason the autoprogramming is not detecting these channels is that I live in the middle of nowhere in a swamp (in a hole) so the hills are blocking the digital signals, and maybe these digital channels are somewhat weaker than the 2 analog stations I can get. But the person who most recently told me she gets all these new channels only lives 2 miles from me (although she does not live in a swampy hole like we do, she is up on the flat ground). Any advice I'd appreciate! Thanks!

• Answer:

  Yes, you being in a hole could have a bit to do with it. An amplified antenna on a tower may help. Here is an important point to note: The digital channels is mapped over the analog channels, so analog channel 42 would be on channel 42, but digital channel 42-1 will not be there, but on another channel. Your TV will not know about unless it came across in a scan. If you do some research you can find what that channel is, to see if it tries to lock onto the digital channel. Likely, after the analog transmitter gets turned off, the digital channel will move to Ch 42.