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Channels 70 - 83

gregg75

gregg75

These channels were mostly used for repeater stations until 1983 when the FCC axed their band width entirely. There were quite a few (Wikipedia listed) probably about an average of 10 per channel number. But, I found 7 actual stations as well:

WTPA Harrisburg, Pennsylvania moved from channel 71 to channel 27 in 1957.

WHCT Hartford, Connecticut moved from 71 to 18 (at some point).

WFMJ Youngstown, Ohio moved from 73 to 21 in 1954

WLOK Lima, Ohio moved from 73 to 35 in 1955

WTVU Scranton, Pennsylvania broadcast on channel 73 (1953-1955)

WMGT Adams, Massachusetts moved from 74 to 19 (at some point, eventually went dark)

WTOH Toledo, Ohio channel 79, now dark, was once a DuMont affiliate

Were there any others? What is the highest channel number you've ever watched over the air? I think channel 69 in Atlanta is it for me (Wikipedia lists 12 channel 69 stations in the U.S.).
 
K6JHU said:
Now if you had claimed to watch something on Channel 37, then you would be in the Twilight Zone :)
Click to expand...


Channnel 37 is the one where astronomers use to detect asteroids and stars with their radio telescopes

But still funny if one really did watch channel 37 on their TV sets though :rolleyes:
 
Of course no full-power UHF 70-83 here in WA (even back in the day) but there were translators galore on those channels. Ellensburg had a channel 71 repeating KIMA (CBS), a channel 74 repeating KNDO (NBC), a channel 81 repeating KAPP (ABC), and some other 70+ relaying KYVE (PBS) in the '70s.
The ch 81 went down to 63 in the early '80s and is now on DT20; 71 went down to 51 in 1985, they are now on DT23. KYVE moved to ch 69 around 1978-80 and is now on DT17. KNDO's translator later broadcast on channel 31 in the early-mid '80s and it went defunct shortly after the DTV switch; they are now on DT32.
 
The highest UHF channel in my area before the digital conversion was WPXX ION 50 in Memphis, which is now on channel 33 after the repack. The highest current actual RF channel is WBBJ ABC/CBS 7, which is on channel 35.

Channel 37 was used as a fictional station in Garfield:The Movie (Yes, the cartoon cat). Was this done on any other movies or TV shows?

I also noticed on the webpage that KeithE4 posted that the FCC never allocated any stations on channels 75, 76, 78, or 82, and No full-power applications were ever filed for channels 80 or 81.
 
crainbebo said:
Of course no full-power UHF 70-83 here in WA (even back in the day) but there were translators galore on those channels. Ellensburg had a channel 71 repeating KIMA (CBS), a channel 74 repeating KNDO (NBC), a channel 81 repeating KAPP (ABC), and some other 70+ relaying KYVE (PBS) in the '70s.
Click to expand...
How good (or bad) were the signals? And how far could those UHF translators be seen?
 
Probably about as far as the DTV translators get now in Ellensburg. AKA fuggitaboutit if you live in Cle Elum. I've heard that there is very little TV reception out that way.
 
Growing up in Ottumwa, Iowa, we watched a lot of translator channels 74 and 76. K74CO carried KCCI-8 (CBS) and K76BZ carried WHO-13 (NBC), both from Des Moines. They covered about 15-20 miles if you had an outdoor UHF antenna. In 1988 or 1989, they became K23CI and K27CV respectively.
 
I wondered what could've aired on channels 70-83? Even some TVs until the late 1980s had UHF dials that went to ch. 83.
 
TVCOOL said:
I wondered what could've aired on channels 70-83? Even some TVs until the late 1980s had UHF dials that went to ch. 83.
Click to expand...

Well, if you read the pages we linked to in this thread, you'll know exactly what did air on those channels until the original FM cellphones replaced them. And even then, some translators remained for a few years.

http://www.uhftelevision.com
 
TVCOOL said:
I wondered what could've aired on channels 70-83? Even some TVs until the late 1980s had UHF dials that went to ch. 83.
Click to expand...
Zenith TVs from as recently as the early 1990s tuned up to channel 83. I know because my family and I had a Zenith from 1990 in our living room when I was a kid. It had a green LED channel display below the bottom left corner of the screen.
 
Kingman, AZ back in the 1980's, had about 8 translators rebroadcasting
mainly Phoenix but also some nearby Las Vegas stations. They started
at Rf 68 and went up to Rf 82, spaced every other channel. Most of those
translators were owned by Mohave County and are still owned by Mohave
County to this day.
 
There was a channel 70 operated by KTTC Rochester (NBC) in Blue Earth MN as late as the DTV transition. Not kidding. K70DR was the calls.
Another channel 70 was operating in Kansas up into the '00s as well. KAKE translator somewhere.
 
The Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction ran experimental transmitters on Channels 72 and 76 (KS2XGA and KS2XGD....I think). This was educational programming broadcast from 2 DC9s flying Lazy 8s over Montpelier, Indiana and was seen in schools over a 200 mile radius.
 
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