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FM Reception Input.

I bought the turnstile on the lower right page around 1976. It was under 10 dollars on Page 91 in the 1975 Radio Shack Catalog. It was still $9.95 on Page 125 in the 1980 Catalog. The FM-6 was $14.95. The FM-10 was $27.95. The V-75 in the 1975 Catalog for $14.95 was outstanding for it's size and price. Four straight driven Log Periodic elements and four High VHF directors. From Mecosta County, MI, circa 1980, you could receive 5,6, and 12 from Flint Saginaw Bay City, 3,8, and 13 from Grand Rapids Kalamazoo, and 7 and 9 from Cadillac Traverse City by rotating it. 2 and 4 from Detroit would come in late at Night quite regularly. I could also hear WIBM-FM 94.1 Jackson to hear American Top 40 Saturdays.

www.radioshackcatalogs.com

1975 Radio Shack Catalog

Flip through the 1975 Radio Shack catalog containing vintage: radios, stereo systems, tape players, CB radios, walkie-talkies, scanners, headphones, telephones, electronics, test equipment & more!
www.radioshackcatalogs.com

www.radioshackcatalogs.com

1980 Radio Shack Catalog

Flip through the 1980 Radio Shack catalog containing vintage: radios, stereo systems, tape players, CB radios, walkie-talkies, scanners, headphones, telephones, electronics, test equipment & more!
www.radioshackcatalogs.com
 
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Schroedingers Cat said:
I bought the turnstile on the lower right page around 1976. It was under 10 dollars on Page 91 in the 1975 Radio Shack Catalog. It was still $9.95 on Page 125 in the 1980 Catalog. The FM-6 was $14.95. The FM-10 was $27.95. The V-75 in the 1975 Catalog for $14.95 was outstanding for it's size and price. Four straight driven Log Periodic elements and four High VHF directors. From Mecosta County, MI, circa 1980, you could receive 5,6, and 12 from Flint Saginaw Bay City, 3,8, and 13 from Grand Rapids Kalamazoo, and 7 and 9 from Cadillac Traverse City by rotating it. 2 and 4 from Detroit would come in late at Night quite regularly. I could also hear WIBM-FM 94.1 Jackson to hear American Top 40 Saturdays.

www.radioshackcatalogs.com

1975 Radio Shack Catalog

Flip through the 1975 Radio Shack catalog containing vintage: radios, stereo systems, tape players, CB radios, walkie-talkies, scanners, headphones, telephones, electronics, test equipment & more!
www.radioshackcatalogs.com

www.radioshackcatalogs.com

1980 Radio Shack Catalog

Flip through the 1980 Radio Shack catalog containing vintage: radios, stereo systems, tape players, CB radios, walkie-talkies, scanners, headphones, telephones, electronics, test equipment & more!
www.radioshackcatalogs.com
Click to expand...
Brings back some good memories. When I was 9 or 10 (In the late '80s) we installed a new television antenna on the roof. We went to our local Radio Shack, and at my urging my dad purchased the largest antenna they had in stock (I believe it was a VU-190) along with a new rotor. It was exciting enough just being allowed to go on the roof and help him install it! From our location 30 miles NW of Detroit I could turn the antenna north and receive WJRT, WNEM,WFUM, and occasionally WEYI. I'd turn it west and receive WLNS and WILX, and south to receive WTOL and WTVG out of Toledo. WKYC and WJW out of Cleveland, Ohio were frequent visitors as well.
 
K8PLW said:
Brings back some good memories. When I was 9 or 10 (In the late '80s) we installed a new television antenna on the roof. We went to our local Radio Shack, and at my urging my dad purchased the largest antenna they had in stock (I believe it was a VU-190) along with a new rotor. It was exciting enough just being allowed to go on the roof and help him install it! From our location 30 miles NW of Detroit I could turn the antenna north and receive WJRT, WNEM,WFUM, and occasionally WEYI. I'd turn it west and receive WLNS and WILX, and south to receive WTOL and WTVG out of Toledo. WKYC and WJW out of Cleveland, Ohio were frequent visitors as well.
Click to expand...
There was a Winegard that was very popular in the 1960s, the outer outline looked like a triangle, and it was for VHF up to 100 miles. Some relatives in Lansing had one on a rotator. People in Lansing were very partial to WJIM-TV 6, and for years before, they just had some rabbit ears just under the ceiling under the upstairs roof. With the new Winegard, they could get 2,4, and a weak 7 from Detroit, 5 and 12 from Flint Saginaw Bay City (5 was difficult next to 6), 6 and 10 from Lansing Jackson, and 3 and 8 from Grand Rapids Kalamazoo.
 
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Allied 1960 Catalog.

See pages 353-363.


The Amphenol FM Turnstile looks like what we had. That Winegard looks like it has the Blitz reseller brand.

Some designs have changed very little in 60 plus years, such as the 4,8, and 12 Bay UHF Bowties with Reflector.

The late John Kraus, W8JK on Arlington in Ann Arbor, invented the Corner Reflector. His interest in antennas started when he was trying to hear WWJ out that way shortly after 1920, something some people are still having problems with.
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
Allied 1960 Catalog.

See pages 353-363.


The Amphenol FM Turnstile looks like what we had. That Winegard looks like it has the Blitz reseller brand.

Some designs have changed very little in 60 plus years, such as the 4,8, and 12 Bay UHF Bowties with Reflector.

The late John Kraus, W8JK on Arlington in Ann Arbor, invented the Corner Reflector. His interest in antennas started when he was trying to hear WWJ out that way shortly after 1920, something some people are still having problems with.
Click to expand...
I've always enjoyed paging through the old Allied and RS catalogs. Driving around you'll occasionally see some of these older antennas still on rooftops. There's a house not far from me that has stacked conical antennas mounted on the chimney. Still hanging on after 60+ years
 
There was the remains of an Amphenol Hi Lo antenna from circa 1950 until recently in Utica, behind the Ace Hardware. There was only the Low reflector left, and when they replaced the roof, they removed it. There were the remains of a Finco Bedspring antenna near Pellston across from the Pellston General Store. What was left of the antenna gradually deteriorated. The mast is still there. There was a house we visited in Dearborn a few years ago that had one of those Winegard VHF Antennas I described. It was in pristine condition. I tried to get a picture but there was some problem and I couldn't take it. I was at a house in Grosse Pointe and saw the remains of a four single channel 5 element Yagi antennas for 2,4,7, and 9, but just the four individual cable lead in wires for each antenna from the roof to indoors. Some houses out that way had a 10 element Channel 6 Yagi used when WJIM-TV 6 had a lot of MSU Sports programs. One family friend in Flint had the individual Yagis for 2,4,6, and 7, and a labelled four antenna switch. When more stations came on, our friend tried different combinations of the four to try to find the one that was clearest.

Conicals were pretty good actually. There was a high rise dormitory in Big Rapids that had a bunch of them in the late 1970s. The V shape of the driven elements, and sometimes a director, improved the pattern on VHF High channels.

It's interesting that half way between Chicago and Milwaukee, they had a lot of bidirectional area specials. But the Full Power VHF Low Channels are no longer use.
 
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