The time for last-minute scrambling to beat the conversion to digital television came and went early Friday morning in Central Oregon, but local retail and broadcast businesses were still fielding calls from customers who had lost their analog signal.

Despite months of warning and a four-month delay from the first scheduled switch-over in February, about 1 million homes nationwide were expected to be left without their television signal once the change was made complete by midnight Friday, according to an Associated Press report.

Oregon Public Broadcasting received more than 1,000 calls from across the state Friday.

“We’ve had nonstop calls,” said Tom Haydon, OPB’s digital transition coordinator.

“They have covered the entire range of problems, from the most preliminary, ‘Where do I get my (Federal Communications Commission-issued) coupons?’ to someone who has an antenna and is not getting a signal,” he said.

Traditional rabbit ears or other type of antenna require a digital converter box or a television with a digital tuner to view digital signals. Televisions manufactured or imported after March 2007 are required to have a digital tuner.

Many of OPB’s callers had already purchased their digital converter boxes but were still having trouble getting them to work, Haydon said.

There were fewer calls from Central Oregon, which has fewer stations than in Portland and has stations that already broadcast digital signals before the transition, Haydon said. Televisions connected to satellite or cable television service such as DirecTV or BendBroadband also were unaffected by the switch, he said.

At Best Buy in Bend on Friday, a “steady stream” of customers were looking to buy a digital converter box, said Matt Geiss, the store’s general manager. Many of those customers were kicking themselves for not ordering a $40 coupon that is still available from the Federal Communications Commission before they lost their signals, Geiss said.

Households are eligible to request two coupons, each worth $40. They expire 90 days after they are mailed. Requests must be made by July 31. More coupon information is available at www.dtv2009.gov or by calling 888-388-2009.

“We are seeing more people who didn’t get the coupon, but they say they sure need it now,” he said. “We are starting to see a steady increase again, the last three or four days.”

Best Buy is one of three companies that was contracted by the FCC to install the converter boxes, Geiss said. Individuals who are seeking the free hookups should call FCC’s toll-free hot line, 877-229-3889, he said.

Many customers who already had the converter box still needed help getting it set up, said Amador Velasquez, chief engineer for Bend’s NBC affiliate, KTVZ-TV.

KTVZ switched off its analog signal at 12:35 a.m. Friday, right after Thursday’s edition of “The Tonight Show,” Velasquez said.

There were about 25 to 30 calls Friday related to the DTV conversion, he said.

Some were seeking installation services that are available through the FCC. Others wanted over-the-phone help setting up their new box, he said.

“It didn’t seem like a high amount of calls,” he said. “Everything went pretty smoothly.”

KTVZ has a television, an antenna set and a converter box in its lobby and has been giving tutorials, Velasquez said.

“We teach people how to hook (the box) up, program it and use it,” he said. “A few people even bring in their own boxes.”