If you're in one of potentially thousands of households in southwestern Pennsylvania that has not switched from analog to digital television, get cracking. The Feb. 17 deadline is still on.

Attempts to delay the transition from analog to digital TV turned to static yesterday after the U.S. House of Representatives defeated a bill to postpone the switch by four months.

The 258-168 House vote failed to clear the two-thirds threshold needed for passage in a victory for Republicans, who said postponing the transition to June 12 would confuse consumers.

The Nielsen Co. estimates more than 6.5 million U.S. households that rely on analog TV sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals still are not prepared for the transition. People who subscribe to cable or satellite TV or have a newer TV with a digital tuner will not be affected.

In southwestern Pennsylvania, only 7.7 percent of the homes -- about 85,000 of 1.1 million homes in the region -- receive only over-the-air broadcasts, according to Nielsen. But that percentage doesn't take into account homes where a primary set is hooked up to cable and a secondary set receives over-the-air signals.

House Republicans say a delay also would burden wireless companies and public safety agencies waiting for the spectrum that will be vacated by the switchover, and create added costs for television stations that would have to continue broadcasting both analog and digital signals for four more months.

The defeat is a setback for President Barack Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill, who maintain that the Bush administration bungled efforts to ensure that all consumers -- particularly poor, rural and low-income Americans -- will be ready for next month's analog shut-off.

Republican Joe Barton of Texas led the push to scuttle the bill, which passed the Senate unanimously on Monday night after lawmakers in that chamber struck a bipartisan compromise. Senate Democrats won over Republican support by allowing broadcast stations to make the switch from analog to digital signals sooner than the June deadline if they choose and permitting public safety agencies to take over vacant spectrum promised to them as soon as it becomes available.

The Obama administration called for the transition date to be postponed after the Commerce Department earlier this month hit a $1.34 billion funding limit for coupons to subsidize digital TV converter boxes for consumers.

The coupon program allows consumers to request up to two $40 vouchers per household to help pay for the boxes, which translate digital signals back into analog ones for older TVs. The boxes generally cost between $40 and $80 each and can be purchased without a coupon.

The Obama administration had no immediate comment on the House vote and the next step remains unclear.

Gene Kimmelman, vice president for federal policy at the Consumers Union, which has been lobbying for a delay, said he hopes House Democrats will bring the bill up again for a regular floor vote, which would only require majority support to pass. Yesterday's vote took place under a special procedure that required two-thirds support for passage.

Congress in 2005 required broadcasters to switch from analog to digital signals, which are more efficient, to free up valuable chunks of wireless spectrum to be used for commercial services and interoperable emergency-response networks.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the arm of the Commerce Department administering the program, is now sending out new coupons only as older, unredeemed ones reach a 90-day expiration date and free up more money. The NTIA had nearly 2.6 million coupon requests on a waiting list last week and those people will not receive their coupons before Feb. 17.

Mr. Barton, for one, is pushing legislation to fix the coupon program without delaying next month's transition.

Viewers have been warned of the pending switch to digital TV repeatedly by local broadcast stations.

The National Association of Broadcasters has not taken a position on extending the deadline. The TV stations don't want to suddenly alienate and lose viewers, but they've also sunk money into preparing for the Feb. 17 transition.

Essential DTV conversion information for viewers includes the following:

• If there is cable or satellite service connected to a TV, no action is required.

• If you don't have cable or satellite and get your TV signals over-the-air using an antenna, you'll need a TV set with a digital tuner or an analog-to-digital converter box. (Since March 2007, all television reception devices -- TVs, VCRs -- imported into the United States have had to include a digital tuner.)

• If you're using rabbit ears to receive an over-the-air analog signal, that may or may not be sufficient for digital. If you have a rooftop antenna, it can be used with digital but there's no guarantee that an antenna will pull in all the stations in digital as it did in analog.

• DTV signals in this market are mostly UHF and require a UHF antenna, the bow tie or loop that attaches to the traditional VHF rabbit ears.