During hurricane and thunderstorm season, having a battery operated TV is a great thing to have on hand. These portable DTV sets are hard to find in stores, but you may be able to use your old analog battery operated set.

I've connected my converter box to my old Casio portable TV, which has a video and audio input jack on the handheld TV. If your battery operated set has a video input, it's really easy to convert it to digital!

Some converter boxes can be adapted to a battery pack or car power adapter if it has an external power supply, or wall wart. Any box and TV can be operated for hours on a UPS, and I highly advise everyone to have a UPS on their digital TV or converter box (I used mine to make coffee during Hurricane Fran). They have many uses, but its imperative to have one to protect your new electronics.

Check your battery operated TV to see if it has a video and audio input, and if it does you can purchase a simple cable from your local electronics retailer to make the connections. Some portable TV sets may have an external antenna connection, but most will not to save space.

Electronics retailers are now stocking a few battery operated digital sets, but they are hard to find locally, and in a natural disaster, it would be almost impossible to find one. Now is the time to check it out to see if you can rig up your own battery operated digital TV. You don't want to wait till the lights go out to try it, because television delivers the best coverage and information during an emergency situation.