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(car radios) FM Required (1973) ?

DavidEduardo said:
Good point.

My objection to the original post is that it insinuates that SF signals were rebroadcast in Stockton or Modesto ("pumped in") where at that time most reception of non-local signals was done by putting a tower next to the house and stacking some antennas on a pole stuck in a rotor. The poster referred to "1960" by which time the facilities up and down the valley, from Sacramento to Bakersfield, were fairly decent and receivable with the big antenna systems folks had back then.

We had such a system in Omena, MI, in the late 50's to pick up Traverse City (about 25 miles) and Cadillac (about 50 miles to the site). I can recall enduring rather spotty reception of both stations as we watched the 1960 Democrat and Republican conventions, including climbing the tower when the rotor decided not to
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Another possibility, not out of the question, is that Tuna was seeing Fresno stations, which are all UHF. Modesto is 90 miles from Fresno, and Tuna says the town he was in was south of Modesto—-which would make Fresno closer than Sac or SF.

If the town Tuna stayed in was Turlock, the distance to Fresno is only 57 miles.
 
The TV and VCR that my family had in the 70's and early 80's had scrollable UHF tuners that could be preset for a certain number of UHF stations, but they still could drift off and needed to be readjusted. It was still a problem until they started having digital tuners.
 
In 1957, my dad bought three Packard Bell TV sets, one for us and one for each of the in-laws. I'm not sure about the others but ours had a UHF dial, despite it being seven years before it was mandated. We replaced that set for a color one in 1967 when I was 14.
 
Good Lord. Maybe Frank should open a "antique electronics discussion" room. The place would be packed with all sorts of personal nostalgia from technical geriatrics.
 
landtuna said:
Livingston, CA
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Okay, then. First, I have no idea where I got 57 miles from Turlock to Fresno---I looked it up on a map yesterday and again today---it's 81.

Livingston is even closer, though---71 miles. Less as the crow flies. And much closer than any other city with television stations.

In 1960, two of the Fresno network stations were UHF and the ABC station, KFRE, was on VHF channel 12. It moved, by FCC order, to channel 30 in 1961.

So, it pretty much had to be Fresno TV you were watching.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Modesto had a brand new Channel 14 in that era, so that would have been local.
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It appears that 14 never got on the air in Modesto. The assignment was moved to San Mateo and Channel 17 was substituted for Modesto in 1962. They didn't sign on until 1966, and a request during the construction period to change the transmitter site resulted in another channel assignment swap---so they actually signed on as Channel 19.

Sacramento's 100 miles from Livingston, Fresno's 71 and there are terrain obstacles to the west, so Tuna was almost certainly watching Fresno's UHF stations in Livingston.
 
Yes, back then communities outside the urbanized city area had TV antennas on guyed telescoping masts, or towers to receive larger cities with TV stations. In rural areas some folks with money had pretty impressive towers. In north Florida you could see evidence of dealers selling the local "special" configuration. Such as a Lo-Hi VHF Yagi for Jacksonville, stacked with a low VHF Yagi for Channel 2 from Orlando. The other Orlando VHFs were out of reach because they were in Bithlo, unless you had the big tower. Fort Lauderdale might have a southbound antenna for Miami, stacked with a northbound antenna for West Palm Beach. Miami would have the northbound antenna for the antenna farm, with a southwest antenna for Channel 6 in South Dade.

Same story as this, all across the USA. Ah yes, those days of over the air analog TV.

Then there are near perfect TV reception situations. I recall a FM station RFI visit to a resident in Palos Verdes hills near LA. He had a drop dead perfect elevated shot to Mount Wilson. A long distance, but nothing in the way. I turned the FM station on and off a few times for a few seconds with the remote control, and there was no change in the slightly impaired picture on his TV. He assured me everything was perfect when the antenna was installed, and since it is no longer perfect, it MUST be the FM station. I asked when he installed the antenna, and he said 1957 when he bought the house. Despite the delightful climate, I suggested that it was time to consider replacing the twin lead system and upgrading to a new antenna with coax. As I remember it, my departure from his house was not cordial.

Another resident dramatically told me her daughter's teenage years had been ruined, and her daughter was now emotionally scarred for life, because the interference from the radio station prevented her daughter from using her wireless phone. It was not a cell phone, but rather a cordless phone.

As I recall we asked the city for permission to increase the height of the tower in order to reduce RF level on the ground. This was denied, probably because everyone believed a taller tower would increase RF level. The matter was resolved when my boss (the director of engineering) brilliantly arranged for the station to move to a much better location. That was smart of him.

Should note the radio station licensee was in compliance with FCC rules the entire time. The station was not causing the TV interference, and I believe the cordless phone was a Part 15 device. We made a reasonable effort to resolve the situation, and in fact we did when we left the area.
 
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Then there was the fun of TV multipath in suburban reception situations - the first TV my family owned (no UHF tuner, bought on sale at Wards in spring 1964 because of that - still have it - about 15 ft. away from me now, last turned on in 1990) has rabbit ears built in, but they don't tilt, the 2 "ears" can only be extended or shortened.

I recall being very annoyed when I would go over to this TV and carefully adjust the height of the "ears" for clear, ghost free reception in south KC on 4, 5, 9 only to find that the reception had gotten worse (ghosts, picture rolling etc.) when I went a short distance away to sit and watch.

An attic antenna was installed in another house to help with color TV reception, no more multipath.


Kirk Bayne
 
I'm told that before Portland had television, people would put up antennas to receive Seattle. I don't know how successful that was. It may have been limited to higher elevations.
 
semoochie said:
I'm told that before Portland had television, people would put up antennas to receive Seattle. I don't know how successful that was. It may have been limited to higher elevations.
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The 1947 and 1948 Broadcasting Yearbooks show Portland and Seattle with one station each. The 1946 yearbook shows neither market with a station.
 
semoochie said:
I'm told that before Portland had television, people would put up antennas to receive Seattle. I don't know how successful that was. It may have been limited to higher elevations.
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175 miles—-not totally out of the question. If the one Seattle station and one Portland station in the 1947 and 1948 yearbooks David saw had different networks, I could see people at least trying it.
 
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