TV - the old way

[tiredmike59]

Long before there was satelite tv, and the cable company was just
beginning to string their scam thru my neighborhood, I was busy
trying to increase the number of channels on my tv. The local
independent stations had stopped airing the old black and white shows
and began picking up recently cancelled series. The only classic tv
shows I could get was when PBS would occasionally run the old
Red skelton show or Ed sullivan. So I would spend a lot of time going
thru all the channels on my tv trying to pick up a channel that I wasnt
supposed to get. I was especially interested in all those channel
numbers on the UHF band. I couldnt understand why there were so
many and I only had one. One night I came across a station that I
had never seen before, The picture was so grainy I could barely make
it out,but the sound was excellent, and when I heard the distinctive
sound of a submarine sonar and the voices of Richard Basehart and
David Hedison, I jumped out of my chair and began twisting and turning
the rabbit ears so much, they broke off. I then constructed a new mess
out of coathangers and aluminum foil. That didnt help much,so I began
feverishly adjusting the fine tuning until I stripped the knob. Then I
had to use a screwdriver to fine tune it. That also busted.
I was anxious to see where that channel was coming from and what
else they were airing, when Voyage to the bottom of the sea was over,
they showed their station call letters and the name of the city, It was
200 miles away from me. They played the national anthem after that
and went off the air. The sun was coming up and I had to get back
into my coffin. The next day I got a roll of telephone wire, part of a
bicycle rim and some other hunks of metal and climbed the 40 foot
tree in my backyard, I was going to have the highest antenna around.
I Know now it was stupid, but at the time I was under the influence
of channel greed. I checked my neighbor's roof antenna to make sure
I was pointing it in the right direction. When I finished anchoring to the
tree, I was in such a hurry to see the results, I damn near fell out of
the tree. I was disappointed when I turned on the tv, no improvement,
I almost broke my neck for nothing. I had replaced the tv with a better
one,but I was never able to pick up that station again. It must have
been one of those freak atmospheric deals that brought it to me.
Has anyone else gone to such extremes to get a channel ?
I would hate to think I am the only one.

[Regulus]

Originally Posted by tiredmike59

Long before there was satelite tv, and the cable company was just
beginning to string their scam thru my neighborhood, I was busy
trying to increase the number of channels on my tv. The local
independent stations had stopped airing the old black and white shows
and began picking up recently cancelled series. The only classic tv
shows I could get was when PBS would occasionally run the old
Red skelton show or Ed sullivan. So I would spend a lot of time going
thru all the channels on my tv trying to pick up a channel that I wasnt
supposed to get. I was especially interested in all those channel
numbers on the UHF band. I couldnt understand why there were so
many and I only had one. One night I came across a station that I
had never seen before, The picture was so grainy I could barely make
it out,but the sound was excellent, and when I heard the distinctive
sound of a submarine sonar and the voices of Richard Basehart and
David Hedison, I jumped out of my chair and began twisting and turning
the rabbit ears so much, they broke off. I then constructed a new mess
out of coathangers and aluminum foil. That didnt help much,so I began
feverishly adjusting the fine tuning until I stripped the knob. Then I
had to use a screwdriver to fine tune it. That also busted.
I was anxious to see where that channel was coming from and what
else they were airing, when Voyage to the bottom of the sea was over,
they showed their station call letters and the name of the city, It was
200 miles away from me. They played the national anthem after that
and went off the air. The sun was coming up and I had to get back
into my coffin. The next day I got a roll of telephone wire, part of a
bicycle rim and some other hunks of metal and climbed the 40 foot
tree in my backyard, I was going to have the highest antenna around.
I Know now it was stupid, but at the time I was under the influence
of channel greed. I checked my neighbor's roof antenna to make sure
I was pointing it in the right direction. When I finished anchoring to the
tree, I was in such a hurry to see the results, I damn near fell out of
the tree. I was disappointed when I turned on the tv, no improvement,
I almost broke my neck for nothing. I had replaced the tv with a better
one,but I was never able to pick up that station again. It must have
been one of those freak atmospheric deals that brought it to me.
Has anyone else gone to such extremes to get a channel ?
I would hate to think I am the only one.

In the early 1970s, when I was living in the Detroit, Michigan Area one evening A Movie I wanted to watch on CBS (I believe it was Captain Nemo and the Underwater City), was being pre-empted by both the Detroit and Toledo Stations for Local Political Programming, but on that evening I got Cleveland's CBS Station, which was showing the Movie Loud and Clear! The next day I tried to tune in that station and got NOTHING!, AFAIC It's was one of those "Atmospheric Flukes", but it came at the right time!

[kk-likes-tv]

This was fairly common in the old attenna days and it happened a few times at our house - we had a tower attenna with an indoor rotor control. The nearest ABC station sometimes disappeared to be replaced by some other channel on the same frequency. The ham radio guys call this phenomenon "skip" and it would last from a few minutes to sometimes a few hours - it only ever happened in the summer. We would rotate the attenna a bunch of ways to see what stations would come in, usually it was nothing but static. I remember pulling in a station from Watertown NY on channel 7 where normally a Buffalo station came in there, the distance was about 300 miles away from our place in Hamilton, Ontario.

[Zoneboy]

I live in NC and no longer have my outside antenna but I was able to pick up WTBS in Atlanta on a few occasions and one day I got 2 channels from Corpus Christie, Texas. The signals were clear for about an hour and then they were gone.

[boechsner]

Those were the good old days. In the early to mid 90s, I loved trying to get far away channels in by adjusting the antenna. I especially always had great success on clear humid summer nights. I lived in an area where I could pull in all stations from Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay markets. However, on those summer nights, I could pull in stations from Chicago, Rockford and sometimes Wausau. The farthest I ever pulled was a station out of Indianapolis. I believe it was Channel 22 or 23. I can't recall. It didn't last long and I never got it in again. I miss those days and if you can believe it, I miss TV snow.

[biffbronson]

Originally Posted by boechsner

The farthest I ever pulled was a station out of Indianapolis. I believe it was Channel 22 or 23. I can't recall. It didn't last long and I never got it in again.

That's coinciderntal -- when I began reading this thread, one of the first things that came to mind was when I pulled in a Wisconsin channel a few scant times here in Indiana...! I think it was out of Madison.

But that's remarkable that you pulled in Indy -- I've never come across their programming.

I still have a rooftop antenna and when the skies are really clear, I can pull in some digital from Chicago (7-1, 7-2, 7-3 and occasionally 2-1). WLS-7 has some good programming -- love that late (very late) movie.