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Off Air Reception-What DID we do before ever getting cable?

V

vibe

The origins of cable TV were to provide programming to those in outlying or mountainous areas with very poor to no reception. The concept was great and benefitted many people who otherwise wouldn't have any TV so to speak. The trend for the last few years has been to cut back on some of the semi local broadcast stations and adding stations that are shopping or religious based or stations that show pure crap. Plus a number of the cable stations take up large blocks of paid programming. Assume the average cable bill is $50 mo of $600 a year. If you pay for cable for 30 or 40 years, that cost is $18-24000. (probably could take a real nice, LOONG vacation with that cash.
My questions are what kind of off the air reception you had before getting cable? What kind of reception COULD you get if you dropped cable and spent the entire $600 for an off air system? Is cable a necessity where you live?
We get at least 15 stations off the air with rabbit ears (and clearly) in central Mass yet we have cable. Where I previously lived in Rutland, MA the number was closer to 30 (we had 5 ABC's and 5 NBC's as an example.)
 
Where I grew up in West Central Ohio, folks typically had roof antennas witha VHF antenna pointed toward Dayton, Ohio for channels 2 and 7 (back then channel 2 had lower power than today so it wasn't a super-strong signal, unlike WHIO-TV channel 7.)..a UHF antenna pointed toward Ft. Wayne for channels 15, 21 and 33 and a smaller UHF antenna pointed toward Lima for channel 35. On cable today they get affiliates from Ft. wayne, Dayton, Columbus, Toledo adn Lima.

Where I live near Dayton, OH with rabbit ears channel 7 comes in well, 2 hardly at all, 22 and 45 OK and 26 blasts in. Absolutely no reception from Columbus, spotty reception of Channel 12 in Cincinnati.
 
even though i live right inside the city and not far from the local transmitter sites cable at my qth is a need due to an 18 story blg.. i have very bad ghosts or a weak signal from all locals.. hd is even harder
 
With just rabbit ears ...depends where you located both hieth(apt0 and relative distance to transmitters. In Columbus at leats 10 stations come in rabbit ears....
4,6,8,10,17,19,23,28,34,41,53 all come in fairly well........oldies...with a vhf antenna always got channel 10 in saint marys!
 
Hartford/New Haven (I'm in New Britain, southern Hartford County):

CBS 3: Fair but watchable [3-Hartford]
ABC 8: Fair to quite good [8-New Haven]
UNI 18: Terrible (Partially blocked with Avon Mountain) [18-Hartford]
WB 20: Decent at best, depending on the antenna's direction [20-Waterbury]
PBS 24: Terrible (see UNI 18) [24-Hartford]
"I" 26: Decent and watchable [26-New London]
NBC 30: Excellent (only 5 miles from transmitter) [30-New Britain]
PBS 53: Snowy, watchable color signal [53-Norwich]
UPN 59: see WB 20 [59-New Haven]
FOX 61: Excellent (see NBC 30) [61-Hartford]
 
K.L. I lived in New Britain CT until 1974 or so (High St.) before getting cable we had a rooftop antenna on top of a 3 story- Good to exc were 3, 18, 20,22,24,30,40, 57. cH 8 (NEW HAVEN) AND 27 (WORCESTER) were OK. Also had watchable but fuzzy pictures on 2, 4, 5, 7, Bos Ch 6 New bedford and ch 5 NYC. Strange 2 channel 5's each not interfering. But an outside antenna was necessary. Cable was justified there as all stations were clear and we had a number of New York independents. It was a more simple time-cable tried to give you what YOU needed; Strange concept.
New Britain was a funny area-I had friends that could only get 4-5 stations and others on hills that got everything clear from Boston and Providence as well as the locals.
 
I still use rabbit ears - I refuse to pay $40-$50/mo for TV I won't (or shouldn't) watch. I'm just fortunate to have that option - I live about 5 miles from the South Mountain antenna farm in Phoenix, and I get 20 channels clearly, 1 fuzzy, 2 barely (from E Mesa) and 4 not at all (1 from S Mtn, 2 from N Mtn, 1 from N Scottsdale). On occasion, I can even pick up Tucson stations. If I had a rooftop antenna, I'd probably get them more often. Only thing is, 10 channels are in Spanish, 2 are repeaters of another (I don't get those 2 anyway), and 3 are shopping, leaving only 12 useful stations. (ABC,NBC,CBS,Fox,PBS,CW,MNTV,i,TBN,Daystar,2 good indies).

Out west, TV translators are much more commonly used, so smaller communities sometimes have 10+ channels, and little Indian villages even have 5. One community even runs its "cable" system via OTA LPTV, scrambled, but barely. (http://www.dvec.org/sgctva/sgctva.html)

Utah alone has around 600 licensed TV stations, almost all low-power, and most operational, which is why the Salt Lake City TV market covers the entire state.
 
dhett-I looked up that web site shown in your last post-pretty strong array of channels. And I imagine the monthly cost for that wireless cable system to be a lot less than most of us pay everyere else.
 
Sidney, OH still has wireless cable. As for Channel 10 in St. Marys, I can see how that's possible. When the band opened up accross the lake, we could get Cincy's 5 9 and 12, sometimes Indy and Columbus (no rotor). I did reord some really nice DX back in the day, even UHF's in Wisconsin with the beam pointed toward Ft. Wayne..
 
Here in my perch about 20 miles from the suburban Cleveland antenna farm (Parma, OH), I get with an indoor antenna:

3 (NBC) - fuzzy and noisy, as you might expect from low-VHF
5 (ABC) - Better than 3, still not 100% viewable
8 (FOX) - Best of the VHFs, nearly perfect
----
17 (TBN) - Now a viewable, semi-snowy but OK picture. I believe they've moved up from Canton to Akron
19 (CBS) - Clear UHF picture with little snow
23 (PAX) - Clear UHF picture with no snow
25 (PBS) - Roughly the same as 19, maybe a bit better
29 (IND/LPTVer) - Snowy, almost not watchable
35 (IND/LPTVer) - Cleveland simulcaster of 29, out of Parma antenna farm...worse than 29 or nearly equal depending on antenna placement
43 (MyNet/ex-UPN) - Similar to 25 and 19
45 (PBS) - Snowy (aims at Youngstown market)
49 (PBS) - Local simulcaster of 45, as clear as 23 (same TX location)
55 (CW/ex-WB) - Not quite as good as 23/49, despite local COL, but similar to 19/43 (in Parma antenna farm)
61 (UNI O&O) - Nearly as good as other Parma UHFs. Used to be a lot worse back in the day
67 (SAH/Jewelry TV) - Similar to 17. Same COL as 17, but much better than it was back in the day as well...both stations have upgraded/moved since their Canton days.

Youngstown UHFs are not really visible here (21/27/33) with an indoor antenna.

I can get nearly all of the DT equivalents of the above, and the DT of 27, with little problem.

I'd probably get much better results with an outdoor antenna...
 
I grew up in eastern Long Island in Noyac, a small hamlet near Sag Harbor. Until mid-1968 my family had a black-and-white TV and used an outdoor antenna to get 2 stations -- 3 from Hartford (CBS) and 8 from New Haven (ABC). Was never able to get NBC.

In mid-1968 my family got a color TV, so for best results we put up a big outdoor antenna with a rotor. This is what I was able to get:

2 -- WCBS-TV, New York (CBS); also WGBH, Boston (PBS), on occasion
3 -- WTIC-TV, Hartford (CBS)
4 -- WNBC-TV, New York (NBC); also WBZ-TV, Boston (NBC), on occasion
5 -- WNEW-TV, New York; also WHDH-TV, Boston (CBS), on occasion
6 -- WTEV, New Bedford (ABC), best of the Providence-area signals thanks to its transmitter location
7 -- WABC-TV, New York (ABC). Had to tune carefully as Channel 8 was like a local.
8 -- WNHC-TV, New Haven (ABC)
9 -- WOR-TV, New York, always for Mets games. Had to tune carefully as Channel 8 was like a local.
10 -- WJAR-TV, Providence (NBC)
11 -- WPIX, New York.
12 -- WPRI, Providence (CBS), worst of the Providence-area signals
13 -- WNET, New York (PBS)

Didn't need UHF as New York stations plus 3 and 8 were enough for us.

My family moved in 1971 to North Haven, an incorporated village between Sag Harbor and Shelter Island. Mom insisted on cable because she didn't want a big antenna outside. We moved in just before Thanksgiving but didn't get cable hooked up until the week after Xmas. As a result I missed seeing the Dolphins-Chiefs overtime playoff game played Xmas Day.

A historical note: TV listings in Newsday back then included the New York stations plus 3 and 8 from Connecticut. Newsday listings no longer include 3 and 8 -- cable/satellite penetration on Long Island must be at least 80 percent.
 
Here's regular reception with a crappy RCA TV here in Bothell, WA.

VHF
2-static
3-static
4-KOMO-TV (ABC), OK reception
5-KING-TV (NBC), fair reception
6-sometimes audio bleed off of KPLU 88.5 here in Seattle
7-KIRO-TV (CBS), good-OK reception
8-static
9-KCTS-TV (PBS), second best of the VHF's
10-static
11-KSTW-TV (The CW), the best of the VHF's, always clear
12-KVOS-TV Bellingham (IND), unwatchable but sometimes there is audio with the antenna just right
13-KCPQ-TV (Fox), horrible reception, all fuzzy, sometimes even B&W at times

UHF
16-KONG-TV (IND), OK reception
20-KTBW-TV (TBN), poor picture, fair audio
22-KMYQ-TV (MNT), good reception
33-KWPX-TV (ION), second best UHF
45-KHCV-TV (A1), before it went all-digital it could be picked up, horrible picture, sometimes fair, staticky audio
51-KUNS-TV (UNI), third best UHF
56-KWDK-TV (DS), before it went all-digital it could be picked up

-crainbebo
 
Hey, I missed this thread first time out, so now that crainbebo has bumped it up, I may as well chime in.

I grew up about 2 miles from the Rochester tower farm, so it took only the barest of antennas to get the then-four locals before cable came in early in 1980:

8 WROC (then NBC)
10 WHEC (then CBS)
13 WOKR (ABC)
21 WXXI (PBS)

With the rabbit ears fully extended, we could see some fuzzy signals from Buffalo (WGR-TV 2, NBC and WIVB 4, CBS) and Syracuse (WSYR-TV 3, NBC and WTVH 5, CBS), and that was about that.

And having spent the $600 or so for a big stack of antennas atop my house now, less than a mile from that same Rochester tower farm, here's what the dial looks like:

2 WGRZ NBC Buffalo (decent, some electrical noise)
3 WSTM NBC Syracuse (ditto)
4 WIVB CBS Buffalo (ditto)
5 WTVH CBS Syracuse (ditto)
6 CJOH CTV Deseronto (weak video, good audio)
7 WKBW ABC Buffalo (decent, with some adjacent-channel mess from 8)
8 WROC CBS Rochester (super-local)
10 WHEC NBC Rochester (ditto)
13 WHAM-TV ABC Rochester (ditto)
16 WXXI-DT PBS Rochester (local)
19 WSYT-DT Fox Syracuse (very good)
21 WXXI PBS Rochester (local)
24 WCNY PBS Syracuse (decent)
25 WCNY-DT PBS Syracuse (some breakups)
26 W26BZ My Victor (weak)
28 WUHF-DT Fox Rochester (local)
31 WUHF Fox Rochester (local)
33 WGRZ-DT NBC Buffalo (reliable)
36 WHSH-CA Cornerstone Rochester (less than a mile away, but ghosty)
38 WAWW-LP HSN Rochester (ditto)
39 WIVB-DT CBS Buffalo (reliable)
40 WBGT-LP My Rochester (weak)
42 W42CO TCT Rochester (local, but ghosty)
43 WNYS My Syracuse (weak)
45 WROC-DT CBS Rochester (local)
47 WTVH-DT CBS Syracuse (spotty)
49 WNYO My Buffalo (weak)
51 WPXJ Pax Batavia (nearly local)
58 WHEC-DT NBC Rochester (local)
59 WHAM-DT ABC Rochester (local)
68 WSYT Fox Syracuse (weak)

UHF would be better here if I had the proper filters for my super-locals - I never bothered buying them for the interim DTV channels, and will have to reconfigure after the transition. In the meantime, I'm suffering massive preamp overload up at the antenna.

With typical rabbit ears/UHF loop indoors, I get the local FP analogs (8/10/13/21/31), the nearby local LPTVs (36/38/42), the local digitals (16/28/45/58/59) and an adequate picture on 51 from Batavia, and sometimes 49 Buffalo...and that's it.
 
Prior to cable, Lexington, Kentucky was a town with an above average amount of high gain antennas. It was located within 80 miles of Louisville and Cincinnati and with a little extra gain and height could receive Dayton and a little further.

A trip to the southeast of Lexington into the mountains included many high gain UHF antennas (Lexington was an all UHF market) located anywhere in the front yard where a clear shot through a mountain was possible. Beyond sixty miles it was rare to see an antenna unless it was atop a mountain. The signal was transferred by ladder line down the hill to the home.
 
I'm glad this thread was bumped back up because it brings back memories for me of growing up when there was no cable in South Jersey only a few miles from Philadelphia.

Being that my parents were from North Jersey and we always visited the relatives up there, I always wanted to be able to pick up the New York VHF channels back home about 80 miles away but they only would come in on some nights or mornings more so in the spring and summer with the rabbit ears or on the antenna we had in the second floor attic which was aimed at Philly. My father and I decided to experiment one day and turn the antenna in the attic in the direction of New York which was about a 90 degree turn from where it was. We could pick up all the New York VHFs but they were snowy most of the time, especially during the day but it was better than nothing. The problem was, the local Philadelphia channels had "ghosts" because of the direction of the antenna so it had to be put back to it's original position. My father decided to put another antenna on the roof just for the New York channels and the wire would go down to my room. Even though it was only about 15 feet higher than the antenna in the attic, the reception of all the New York channels was better. They still had some snow most of the time but not nearly as much as the antenna in the attic. During the late spring and summer when the atmosphere would act up, the New York channels would often get taken over by the more distant channels that don't normally come in.

Those were the good old days.
 
I'm too young to remember life without cable. I did enjoy TV DXing, and have something logged on each channel. I loved watching the 11:00 news on a TV station hundreds of miles away.
When the tropo hit, the local channels that were carried by cable used to show co-channel interference, and were even taken over by DX completely sometimes. That doesn't happen anymore though. I still have the antenna today, it's used for DTV reception.

I remember hearing about how TV stations on channels 2-6 around the country used to be flooded with phone calls during an e-skip opening the moment the skip hit. Bet it was local viewers complaining about the interference and distant viewers wondering why the channel is coming in so far away.
 
I can remember recieving stations by eskip where there would be an announcement or on screen bug about "skywave interference"
 
The best person I ever worked for is Stan Coning at WCTM Radio in Eaton, Ohio. I have always liked to go up and visit him. One summer evening while I was at his house, we turned on the TV. He did not have cable, just an antenna and rotor, but was able to pick up something on each VHF TV channel - and with a movement of the rotor, sometimes two stations on the same channel.

Eaton, Ohio is in west central Ohio, very close to the Indiana border. It is about 25 miles west of Dayton and 50 miles north of Cincinnati. On that evening we picked up:

Channel 2 - Dayton
Channel 3 - Louisville, Ky.
Channel 3 - Huntington/Charleston, Wv.
Channel 4 - Columbus
Channel 4 - Indianapolis
Channel 5 - Cincinnati
Channel 6 - Indianapolis
Channel 6 - Columbus
Channel 7 - Dayton
Channel 8 - Indianapolis
Channel 8 - Huntington/Charleston Wv.
Channel 9 - Cincinnati
Channel 10 - Columbus
Channel 11 - Louisville
Channel 11 - Huntington/Charles Wv.
Channel 12 - Cincinnati
Channel 13 - Indianapolis
Channel 13 - Huntington/Charleston Wv.

We may have tired the UHF stations for a brief time, but I don't recall. Certainly, there are a number of those receiveable from: Dayton, Oxford, Cincinnati, perhaps Columbus, Louisville, Lexington, etc.

My take on this was it wasn't anything special. Being in that location meant most of these TV stations could be seen on a regular basis with an antenna (which wasn't far off the ground) and using a rotor.
 
From my location about 30 miles south of Indianapolis in martinsville indiana,,Using Rabbit ears gets us only channel 4 6 8 and 13 all pretty snowy,,, but with a 50 ft rotor antenna all the Indy Channels are clear,, we also get CH 2 WTWO terre haute as well as CH 10 and UHF 38 from terre haute, Sometimes if we are lucky we get CHANNEL 3 WAVE as well as WHAS 11,, both in Louisville,, both snowy and often in Black and white,, ive picked up Fox 41 and BIG 58 from Louisville as well,, but rarely... One time our CH 10 got whiped out during E skip, and with the antenna pointed South East was able to receive CH 10 WIBR from,,,, I think Knoxville Tennesse... I later found out that the tower for that station is one of the highest around at 17oo and some odd feet... BTW,, Knoxville is 372 miles away.
 
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