Old TV Antennas Still Hanging Around

[Stanislav]

The "oldest TV" thread got me thinking.....have you ever spotted any OTA TV antennas around that are clearly from another era?

As recently as 10-15 years ago, one could still spot a few old 2-story houses here and there near downtown Orlando that had what appeared to be a solitary huge, rusted, decrepit old lo-band VHF single-channel yagi on the roof, perched precariously on a long mast and half-assedly guyed to the roof, aimed north. From the apparent size of the elements and aiming direction, my deduction has always been that these may have been cut to channel 4, and date from the early 1950s when the closest TV station to Orlando was Jacksonville's channel 4 (which came on in 1949; local TV didn't come to Orlando until mid-1954 when channel 6 signed on). At 120 miles or so, it would have taken a good deal of gain and height to get a stable, consistent signal, and these old monstrosities fit the bill. (Although I bet they had some CCI problems off the back end from Miami's channel 4 -- which also came on in '49 -- when tropo was up...) They may have later been superseded by other antennas (or later, cable), but perhaps no one wanted to risk climbing on the roof to yank the old monsters down.

 

[Markxxx]

hmmm intersting thread. How does one tell how old an antenna is by looking at it? Does anyone know of a site with pics of old TV antennas?

 

[Ultimajock]

...for the three years I lived in La Crosse, Wisconsin, I saw a lot more rooftop antennae -- and, yes, frequently rusted -- pointed northward, as that market's NBC station (and, for many years, exactly half of the market's stations) is WEAU/13, 70 miles to the north, in Eau Claire. (The fact that KTTC/10 Rochester has maintained translator W67CH/67 in La Crosse for decades doesn't seem to matter, as the local news on KTTC is Minnesota-oriented and likely to be of interest mostly to viewers in cross-river La Crescent.) But when I moved to Maryvale, Arizona, last year, I was greatly surprised to see a comparable amount of rooftoppers pointed at South Mountain, and on single-story houses no less. I haven't noticed nearly as many in Tucson these last couple of months...

 

[Stanislav]

hmmm intersting thread. How does one tell how old an antenna is by looking at it?

Well, some might know of older friends or relatives who have old antennas that can be dated and have long outlived their usefulness. And as in the case cited above, sometimes the configuration and provenance of the installation can give clues. There are also certain types of antennas, like conicals, that were quite common in the "one or two local channels, no UHF" days but gradually were phased out as better designs were offered, and increasing available stations on both VHF and UHF made such simple configurations unsuitable. As well as classic antennas like the UHF parabolics that were once very common, both for DXers and in routine deep-fringe situations, but have not been available for years as cable and satellite took bigger and bigger shares of those fringe markets.

Does anyone know of a site with pics of old TV antennas?

No systematic databases or dedicated sites that I know of, but earlytelevision.org has some old article and ads about early TV antennas.

 

[anotherguyTN]

I had seen a parabolic UHF antenna that was still up in recent years near Selmer, TN, which would be about 75 miles from Memphis, far enough away to need something like that to get the UHF stations from there. It looked like it could possibly still be in use because it looked like it was still in fairly decent shape.

Something I've wondered is how long were antennas for individual channels made?

 

[radiorob2.0]

UHF corner reflectors have evolved. The reflector elements on the older antennas, sixties vintage, are curved behind the bowtie. The newer version have reflector elements that are "L" shaped behind the bowtie. The other day I came across a home with an old school UHF antenna, a bowtie with a reflector screen behind it.

Lexington, KY used to be a forest of high gain antennas atop of tall towers. Lexington was within reception of several larger cities that had better television than the locals. The forest started to clear out with the advent of cable, but today you will see the occasional tower. The antennas were long log periodic tuned to VHF. Sometimes there was a high gain UHF for WDRB Channel 41 Louisville and in some cases WXIX 19 Cincinnati, an adjacent local 18 made this a challenge. The UHF antenna were of all kinds, bowties, parabolic dishes, and long yagis.

A common site in Eastern Kentucky were high gain antennas atop mountaintops or half way up a mountain top for line of site. The feed line was the same ladder line used in Amateur Radio. Occasionally, you would see a clandestine feed line over a busy highway. The common channels in the early days were Huntington and Bluefield WV, Knoxville and Tri-Cities TN/VA

 

[w9wi]

In the 60s and 70s, many Milwaukee bars had towers & large Yagis pointed south. The point was to receive sports broadcasts from Chicago when the games were blacked out on the local stations.

A fair number of the antennas are still in place, though at least by appearance few of them seem usable.

 

[Stanislav]

A common site in Eastern Kentucky were high gain antennas atop mountaintops or half way up a mountain top for line of site. The feed line was the same ladder line used in Amateur Radio. Occasionally, you would see a clandestine feed line over a busy highway. The common channels in the early days were Huntington and Bluefield WV, Knoxville and Tri-Cities TN/VA

I've seen similar setups when traveling through the North GA/Western NC mountains. No matter what kind of feedline is used, though, there must be a helluva line loss, but if there is SOME signal there and none at all closer to the yard, I suppose it's an improvement.

What I've also seen in some of those hilly rural areas defies notions of HAAT and signal -- here and there you would see a broken-down looking house surrounded by higher terrain, and a large all-purpose log just simply planted on a 5-10" mast in the middle of the yard somewhere. You would think putting it on the roof would at least be SOME improvement, but perhaps (a)the roof is too rickety to support the thing, or (b)given the capricious hit-or-miss nature of reception in those areas, maybe they walked around the property with the antenna hooked to a portable TV until they found a "sweet spot," then just planted the thing right there.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

There are still some seen on homes in the Greater Cincinnati area. Most are still pointed toward the downtown area where the towers of the various local stations are located. Most seem to be combination VHF/UHF antennas mostly likely from the 1970's and may no longer be connected to sets inside the home. Cable TV first came here in 1980. However, in later years, the stations in Dayton, Ohio were removed from the local cable service. That made it necessary to have some means of picking up those stations over the air to watch news and sports from Dayton stations. Even an older antenna pointed north can still do the job nicely. That is also true of other stations in Louisville, Lexington, Columbus and Indianapolis although an antenna with more elements (sometimes called a deep-fringe antenna) is usually needed for that distance. Stations in those cities may carry sports that are either blacked out here or otherwide not available.

 

[Stanislav]

In the 60s and 70s, many Milwaukee bars had towers & large Yagis pointed south. The point was to receive sports broadcasts from Chicago when the games were blacked out on the local stations.

A fair number of the antennas are still in place, though at least by appearance few of them seem usable.

Back in the 70's, when NBC carried all AFC games exclusively, there were quite a few bars in the Miami-Dade/West Palm Beach areas that had big ol' 7' UHF dishes aimed towards Ft. Myers to pick up blacked-out Dolphins games from WBBH-20.

 

[KeithE4]

In the 60s and 70s, many Milwaukee bars had towers & large Yagis pointed south. The point was to receive sports broadcasts from Chicago when the games were blacked out on the local stations.

Same thing in Chicago, where there were lots of bars with 75' towers with UHF antennas pointed to either Rockford or South Bend (depending on which city was closer). WIFR-TV/23 and WSBT-TV/22, respectively, were outside the Bears' blackout zone and carried all the games.

 

[vibe]

If you go thru the numerous mobile home parks in FLA you will see a LOT of outside antennas. That's because many people (snowbirds) are in FLA for 3-5 months and it may not be cost effective for cable/satelite. Particularly in MH parks that no longer have a 'cable club" that offered cable for $240 a year or so. That's extended basic. 60 channels, no movies or extras. Plus a lot of those people are on fixed incomes of around 1K mo. Some of them can afford cable but are trying to save every last dime for their next of kin (sad) but there are people who are 85 and going month to month. They RELY on analog. Their neighbors will help them with the conversion to digital becasue that's what neighbors do.
I've been in a number of homes with a nice outside antenna set up which gets (until 2/09) a LOT of analogs., more than offered on cable. Am curious to see how the digitals come in.
In my area you can get reasonable analog reception with a decent indoor antenna for the stations (Ft,. Myers0 tht are 30 mi or so away. There will probably be a lot of these "rigs" at yard sales on 2/20/09. But the Canadians will buy these for less than a loonie....

 

[radiorob2.0]

A common site in Eastern Kentucky were high gain antennas atop mountaintops or half way up a mountain top for line of site. The feed line was the same ladder line used in Amateur Radio. Occasionally, you would see a clandestine feed line over a busy highway. The common channels in the early days were Huntington and Bluefield WV, Knoxville and Tri-Cities TN/VA

I've seen similar setups when traveling through the North GA/Western NC mountains. No matter what kind of feedline is used, though, there must be a helluva line loss, but if there is SOME signal there and none at all closer to the yard, I suppose it's an improvement.

What I've also seen in some of those hilly rural areas defies notions of HAAT and signal -- here and there you would see a broken-down looking house surrounded by higher terrain, and a large all-purpose log just simply planted on a 5-10" mast in the middle of the yard somewhere. You would think putting it on the roof would at least be SOME improvement, but perhaps (a)the roof is too rickety to support the thing, or (b)given the capricious hit-or-miss nature of reception in those areas, maybe they walked around the property with the antenna hooked to a portable TV until they found a "sweet spot," then just planted the thing right there.

Actually, balanced feed line is very efficient unless it gets wet or touches something conductive. It can go a long way before a significant loss.

As far as putting a mast in the middle of the yard, it may have been the only place to find a hole in the mountains. Height doesn't mean much when the mountains are taller than your roof.

 

[Stanislav]

A common site in Eastern Kentucky were high gain antennas atop mountaintops or half way up a mountain top for line of site. The feed line was the same ladder line used in Amateur Radio. Occasionally, you would see a clandestine feed line over a busy highway. The common channels in the early days were Huntington and Bluefield WV, Knoxville and Tri-Cities TN/VA

I've seen similar setups when traveling through the North GA/Western NC mountains. No matter what kind of feedline is used, though, there must be a helluva line loss, but if there is SOME signal there and none at all closer to the yard, I suppose it's an improvement.

What I've also seen in some of those hilly rural areas defies notions of HAAT and signal -- here and there you would see a broken-down looking house surrounded by higher terrain, and a large all-purpose log just simply planted on a 5-10" mast in the middle of the yard somewhere. You would think putting it on the roof would at least be SOME improvement, but perhaps (a)the roof is too rickety to support the thing, or (b)given the capricious hit-or-miss nature of reception in those areas, maybe they walked around the property with the antenna hooked to a portable TV until they found a "sweet spot," then just planted the thing right there.

Actually, balanced feed line is very efficient unless it gets wet or touches something conductive. It can go a long way before a significant loss.

As far as putting a mast in the middle of the yard, it may have been the only place to find a hole in the mountains. Height doesn't mean much when the mountains are taller than your roof.

Exactly what I was thinking. I picture in my mind poor ol' Joe Sixpack lugging that heavy, unwieldy thing around the "estate" and yelling back and forth with wifey Jane Sixpack.....

"How's that?"
"A little better...keep moving..."
(Grumble, grumble...trudge, trudge...)
"How's it look now?"
"Still kinda snowy...keep moving!"
(Grumble, muttered oaths, shakes head.....trudge, trudge...)

;D

 

[Stanislav]

If you go thru the numerous mobile home parks in FLA you will see a LOT of outside antennas. That's because many people (snowbirds) are in FLA for 3-5 months and it may not be cost effective for cable/satelite.....Plus a lot of those people are on fixed incomes of around 1K mo. Some of them can afford cable but are trying to save every last dime for their next of kin (sad) but there are people who are 85 and going month to month. They RELY on analog.

My mother and I live in a fairly nice retirement MH community. We are at the edge of the park and just in back of us, on the other side of a fence, is a rather redneck low-income MH neighborhood. I'm looking out my window right now at one of these mansions with a very old "Orlando special" OTA antenna -- specifically with a 5-element ch. 2 yagi on top for WESH (transmitter roughly north of here), and a lower section cut for 6,9,24,35 (transmitters roughly ENE) -- there were no other locals when these things were made. It's rundown, lead-in flapping in the breeze, and the whole thing is about 60 degrees off-beam (no doubt "rotated" by the 2004 hurricanes). I hope for their sake that it's just a derelict and not in use, cos it probably isn't going to serve them well come February with WESH-DT on ch. 11 and everything else on UHF.....

 

[radiorob2.0]

Tell City, Indiana is along the Ohio River between Louisville and Evansville, though a tad closer to Evansville. Furniture stores sold an antenna called a "Tell City Special". It was an antenna tuned to 3,7,9, and 11 and was aimed to either Louisville or Evansville would allow VHF reception, each city was almost in the opposite direction. Technically until 1990 you could rely on the one antenna for all the networks sans Fox.

 

[mleach]

In the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia ( Martinsburg, Charles Town, and Ranson ), its still very common to see antennas PLUS a Direct TV & Dish Network beside them too. Reason for this I have been told is because of Baltimore and Harrisburg. A lot of local viewers there want to to receive their TV and not just Washington DC's since that area falls into the DC DMA.

 

[dxnemo78]

When we moved into this house in November 1985, the previous owners left behind an antenna situated on top of a 25' steel "pike", with a presumably at one time functional rotor. I plugged the well worn wire into our '73 model Zenith console, and we got by pretty good until having cable installed a few weeks later.

Fast forward to the year 2000. Now on my own, and in a bit of a financial bind, I decide to drop the cable which I now rarely watch. The old antenna is put back into use, but I find I get better quality from an $8.00 set of rabbit ears from Wally-World, so old stand-by enters another period of retirement.

Fast forward again to 2004. I decide to enter the 21st century, and sign up for a satellite package. This lasts about 2 1/2 years, then the GF segues to "greener pastures", and I'm alone once again, without much interest in TV or anything else, for awhile. Bye-bye satelliite, hello rabbit ears!

April 2008. My coupon comes, I rush to the store to get my converter box. I also purchase a $35.00 indoor HDTV antenna, which I figure I'll need, given my 30 to 40 mile distance from all signals. I plug it in........nothing. Well, let's try the old rabbit ears.............2 stations out of a possible 9. Hmmmm..............nahhh, "ol' stand by" probably won't pull 'em in, either. Aw, what the hell.......

Voila!! All 9 stations, clear as can be! We have some rainy day issues, and I'm hoping one particular outlet is gonna bump up their power come February, but as it is right now, "ol' stand by" is back at work after 22+ years of mostly waiting patiently!

Back when we had cable, I would ocassionally unhook it and plug in the antenna for some impromptu tropo DX. It has withstood yowling winds, ice storms, blizzards, what have you. I'm keepin' it.....