Specialized antennas for specific markets

[Stanislav]

We've touched on this in passing before (and I've mentioned it here and on other boards), but let's gather some memories/info into one thread....

Back in the glorious analog days, and before CATV ruled and most folks still got their local TV off-air, specialized antennas were sold in markets where diverse transmitter locations made it difficult to get your full compliment of locals clearly. These cut-to-local-channels units, properly set up and oriented, enabled good reception without the use of a rotor. They were usually given catchy, localized names; were manufactured by Finco, Antennacraft, or Channel Master, etc.; and sold through local TV dealers and repair shops (sometimes at the local Radio Shack as well).

In Orlando, when we first moved here (circa 1972), they sold the "Orlando Special," consisting of a small section of elements cut for channels 6, 9, and 24 (all transmitting from Bithlo, east of town), and a separate 5-element channel 2 yagi, to be aimed at the more distant WESH transmitter in Orange City (north of town). Later, when 35 was added to the local station lineup, it was added to the Orlando Special as well. (I don't know if there was a previous version of the antenna prior to our arrival, back before the original Bithlo tower was built, and 6/9/24 were all on separate sticks.)

What are some other markets that had such antennas? I know I've seen an ad on YouTube for an old "Quad Cities Special" made for reception in the Davenport-Rock Island-et. al. market. Others?

 

[w9wi]

What are some other markets that had such antennas? I know I've seen an ad on YouTube for an old "Quad Cities Special" made for reception in the Davenport-Rock Island-et. al. market. Others?

Nashville did, and quite a few of them are still up. (though not particularly useful for DTV)

We had channels 2 and 8 on a tower south of town; channels 4 and 17 on a tower to the west; channels 5, 30, 50, and 58 on three towers to the northwest; and channels 39 and 66 to the east. (most Nashville Stacks ignored channels 39 and 66, as did most viewers)

 

[radiorob2.0]

I seem to remember homes around Tampa/St Pete had a conical antenna, it may have been for Channel 10. Tell City Indiana had their "Tell City Special". The city's location was almost equal between Louisville and Evansville and in opposite directions. The elements were cut for 3, 7, 9, and 11.

 

[FreddyE1977]

In Pittsburgh, the towers were all pretty much located north of town, with the exception of WTAE-4.
That was a short-spaced station originally licensed to Irwin, PA, with a transmitter down at the very southern edge of Allegheny County. So you were fine until you wanted to watch some ABC program, in which case you had to turn your antenna 180 degrees. Then around 1980, WPTT and WPCB hit the air with towers to the east, further complicating matters. This was a big TennaRotor town. People who could not get one of the locals due to the terrain would try and pull in a surrounding market station from Wheeling, Youngstown or Johnstown. At my house we could get WSTV out of Steubenville, Ohio more clearly than some of the locals. We never did get any signal for WTAE at my house that was any good until cable came along in 1982. I know people who lived a short walk away who could not receive stations which we got perfectly fine, and vice-versa.

I have heard of some markets where there was particular demand for antennas to get a particular distant station. For example, I've heard in the New York area in the 50's and 60's you could make some nice money building custom antennas to get Channel 3 in Hartford Connecticut. (this was because NY Giant football games were generally blacked-out locally at that time)

 

[mleach]

I have heard of some markets where there was particular demand for antennas to get a particular distant station. For example, I've heard in the New York area in the 50's and 60's you could make some nice money building custom antennas to get Channel 3 in Hartford Connecticut. (this was because NY Giant football games were generally blacked-out locally at that time)

That was the case in the Washington/Baltimore region whenever the Redskins/Colts were black-out, in the DC area WTVR, WXEX and WWBT out of Richmond became "popular" when that happened. With the Colts, maybe the Harrisburg-York-Lancaster stations filled the gap, that I really dont know. I do know that whenever the Redskins were blacked out say on WTOP channel 9, the game would also have been blacked out on WMAR channel 2 as well so many TV shops in the DC metro area would advertise in helping the viewers to be able to pick up the Richmond channels.

 

[TexasTom]

Seattle/Tacoma also had it's specialized antenna -- somewhere, I have a scanned ad for one, I think it was called "The Sounder" (as in Puget Sound), and featured one set of elements for channels 4, 5, 7, and 9 (which all transmitted from downtown Seattle), and a second set for channels 11 and 13 (from Tacoma). Alternatively, viewers in the northern part of the market could choose to aim the second set of elements north to get channel 12 from Bellingham instead of the Tacoma stations.

 

[dave73]

I would have liked to seen one of these custom made antennas. I remember as a kid in the 70's, when Chicago TV stations still broadcasted from multiple sites (unlike now, where only 2 stations are on the John Hancock, and 12 on the Sears Tower), my area only saw one or 2 antennas. Those who used 1 antenna has both VHF/UHF pointed in the same direction. Some like my paternal grandparents had a separate VHF antenna and a separate UHF antenna (both pointed toward Chicago in a general direction). For those in NW Indiana who wanted to watch WCAE 50 either needed a separate UHF for 50, or have the antenna on a rotator. I don't know where WCAE transmitted out of, but I remember that the station didn't stay on the air long, due to Lake Central High School not having the money to keep the station on the air. WYIN 56 (now DT 17) took over where WCAE left off, only after Newsweb had the licenses for 50 & 56 swapped, since 50 was then non-commercial, but could transmit out of Chicago, while 56 was then commercial, but had to transmit south of Chicago in order to protect ch 55 out of Kenosha Wisconsin. WJYS 62 signed on in the 90's, and they then transmitted out of Tinley Park Illinois. Like 56, they couldn't transmit out of Chicago either to protect 60, and added another direction that an antenna needed to be pointed. Since Chicago went digital, every TV station that couldn't be placed in Chicago now do. WYIN wanted to move their transmitter on the Sears Tower, but costs were prohibitive for them. So they're the only station in the Chicago market (other than WWTO LaSalle) that isn't transmitting off the John Hancock or Sears Tower. So Chicago doesn't need a special antenna that has an antenna in multiple locations (in most cases, 2 at the most).


I know for Porter & LaPorte Counties of Indiana, I've seen many homes with a VHF/UHF combo antenna for Chicago, and a separate UHF only for South Bend (Since South Bend is a UHF only market).

 

[newsmark]

In the 1970s, some Dallas Cowboys games were blacked out in Dallas-Fort Worth and on KXII in Ardmore/Sherman/Denison.

Depending on where you lived, you could get a special cut antenna for channel 7 (KLTV Tyler), channel 6 (KAUZ Wichita Falls or KCEN Temple-Waco), channel 10 (KWTX Waco) or channel 9 (KWTV Oklahoma City).

(side note: for a while, CableCom General in Sherman/Denison would try to pick up games from KLTV with modest success. Then they added KAUZ to the lineup full time--it was a marginal signal but it was really there just for Cowboy games. They considered microwaving the KWTV signal from Cablecom of Ardmore, but I don't think it ever happened.

 

[gr8oldies]

Standard home issue TV antennas in the Celina, OH area...a VHF oriented toward Dayton for channels 2 and 7, a UHF antenna oriented toward Ft Wayne for 15, 21 and 33 (later 55), and a small UHF antenna pointed toward Lima for channel 35. UHF channels 16 and 22 out of Dayton were forgotten about.

 

[easttxtv]

In the 1970s, some Dallas Cowboys games were blacked out in Dallas-Fort Worth and on KXII in Ardmore/Sherman/Denison.

Depending on where you lived, you could get a special cut antenna for channel 7 (KLTV Tyler), channel 6 (KAUZ Wichita Falls or KCEN Temple-Waco), channel 10 (KWTX Waco) or channel 9 (KWTV Oklahoma City).

(side note: for a while, CableCom General in Sherman/Denison would try to pick up games from KLTV with modest success. Then they added KAUZ to the lineup full time--it was a marginal signal but it was really there just for Cowboy games. They considered microwaving the KWTV signal from Cablecom of Ardmore, but I don't think it ever happened.

I didn't know Sherman's cable ever tried to pick up KLTV. I remember when I was little, my dad would try to get whatever we had pointed toward Tyler on Cowboy game days (we were in Plano at the time); I'm not sure what kind of luck he had.

 

[Ultimajock]

...I don't know if there was one for the Kenosha WI area; I do know that with merely rabbit ears and a UHF loop I'd get Milwaukee, Chicago and Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo regularly and South Bend occasionally...at the time, I know Broadcasting Magazine identified Kenosha County as being part of the Chicago ADI (and Kenosha has quite a few Bears fans amongst the Packer Backers), while, of course, almost everybody watched the Milwaukee network stations' newscasts for Wisconsin and local news...

 

[mjlarochelle]

I wonder if there was ever something like this for the Toronto area, since many viewers in that area watched stations from Buffalo as well as the Toronto stations and CHCH in Hamilton - and before the CN Tower was built, CBLT and CFTO transmitted from different locations in Metro Toronto.

I know when CFTO first signed on the air, they sold rotors to viewers so they could more easily tune to Channel 9 in addition to the Buffalo stations.

 

[Tom Wells]

I would have liked to seen one of these custom made antennas. I remember as a kid in the 70's, when Chicago TV stations still broadcasted from multiple sites (unlike now, where only 2 stations are on the John Hancock, and 12 on the Sears Tower), my area only saw one or 2 antennas. Those who used 1 antenna has both VHF/UHF pointed in the same direction. Some like my paternal grandparents had a separate VHF antenna and a separate UHF antenna (both pointed toward Chicago in a general direction). For those in NW Indiana who wanted to watch WCAE 50 either needed a separate UHF for 50, or have the antenna on a rotator. I don't know where WCAE transmitted out of, but I remember that the station didn't stay on the air long, due to Lake Central High School not having the money to keep the station on the air. WYIN 56 (now DT 17) took over where WCAE left off, only after Newsweb had the licenses for 50 & 56 swapped, since 50 was then non-commercial, but could transmit out of Chicago, while 56 was then commercial, but had to transmit south of Chicago in order to protect ch 55 out of Kenosha Wisconsin. WJYS 62 signed on in the 90's, and they then transmitted out of Tinley Park Illinois. Like 56, they couldn't transmit out of Chicago either to protect 60, and added another direction that an antenna needed to be pointed. Since Chicago went digital, every TV station that couldn't be placed in Chicago now do. WYIN wanted to move their transmitter on the Sears Tower, but costs were prohibitive for them. So they're the only station in the Chicago market (other than WWTO LaSalle) that isn't transmitting off the John Hancock or Sears Tower. So Chicago doesn't need a special antenna that has an antenna in multiple locations (in most cases, 2 at the most).


I know for Porter & LaPorte Counties of Indiana, I've seen many homes with a VHF/UHF combo antenna for Chicago, and a separate UHF only for South Bend (Since South Bend is a UHF only market).

WCAE was in St John, Indiana. I'd almost forgotten about them.
Most in NW Indiana had their antenna aimed at Chiago, SO 50 was "off to to side", and as most didn't need antennna rotors,
50 was snowy on almost every occasion I ever saw them.
WNDU South Bend, was a must for many people who followed Notre Dame Football., so there were many homes with a UHF yagi pointed east.

 

[KeithE4]

WNDU South Bend, was a must for many people who followed Notre Dame Football., so there were many homes with a UHF yagi pointed east.

As was WSBT, a must for Bear fans in Chicago's south suburbs & NW Indiana before the blackout rules changed in the early '70s.

 

[KYLEBOOK]

In the mid to late 1970's, an enterprising TV & antenna dealer in West Springfield, MA called Robert's (pronounced Roh-bears), developed a doubled stacked outdoor antenna with amplifier specfically for Red Sox fans in the Springfield, MA/ Hartford, CT area to pick up Channel 32 WRLP in Greenfield, MA (whose tower was in Southern New Hampshire, 70 miles away), for games not carried on the local Channel 22 WWLP. This enterprise was short lived, as WWLP solved the problem by getting a license for a low-powered station, Channel 69, in 1978 to carry Red Sox games not on the parent channel.

They also developed a similar VHF setup for Yankee fans in the area to receive Channel 11 WPIX in New York (135 miles away). Also a moot point when cable TV made inroads to the area in the early 80s.

 

[PDXREXX]

Seattle/Tacoma also had it's specialized antenna -- somewhere, I have a scanned ad for one, I think it was called "The Sounder" (as in Puget Sound), and featured one set of elements for channels 4, 5, 7, and 9 (which all transmitted from downtown Seattle), and a second set for channels 11 and 13 (from Tacoma). Alternatively, viewers in the northern part of the market could choose to aim the second set of elements north to get channel 12 from Bellingham instead of the Tacoma stations.

Also In the 80's When 13 moved it's transmitter from Tacoma to Bremerton they had an add on antenna
kit I've Seen the ads on YouTube

 

[oburn]

in the mobile area in the early fifties they sold ch 3 yagis to pick up wear tv