No, I'm not being intentionally stupid, and I'm definitely not ill-informed. How is an average person supposed to know what kind of interference they're seeing without a spectrum analyzer or an analog signal?
"Signal meters" on digital converter boxes are measures of "signal quality." They don't show "signal strength," they show "how decodable is whatever's here." The only signal the box will show you is ATSC signal, it will not register anything for any other types of signal. Even if it did, multipath means that the same TV signal could be showing up all over the place.
I'm currently trying to track down an interference source at home which is destroying half the stations I receive at home. If I were trying to use digital and not the analog to find it, I'd be SOL, because the indoor antenna isn't powerful enough to show signal from the weaker TV stations unless it's aimed right at them. Now that signal's gone, how the hell am I supposed to know where it's coming from without the analog noise patterns? (I still haven't found it, even with the analog noise patterns)
I'd invite you to come and visit and help me track down this interference source (presents a solid black picture on analog 3, and replicates itself as noise elsewhere on the band, including analog 10, the video on analog 13, digital 17 breaks up, digital 3 and 18 and 20 and 41 are wiped out, analog 7/27/38/60 show noise (15 does not), digital 36 drops out). If you can do it with only a digital receiver, I'll buy you lunch and publicly eat my words.