Wacky old antennas

[dieseljeep]

Many times, you'll find old antennas, in like new condition, in attics of older homes. It was better than using set-top antennas, in poorer reception areas.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

Many times, you'll find old antennas, in like new condition, in attics of older homes. It was better than using set-top antennas, in poorer reception areas.

The house I grew up in, which was built in the mid-'50s, had three attic-mounted television antennas -- one for VHF, one for UHF (for the living-room TV), and a third all-channel antenna for the set in my bedroom. All worked well in that area, which was 30+ miles from the Cleveland TV stations. The VHF antenna for the living-room TV was a 1950s-vintage conical type; the UHF one, if I remember correctly, was a 3- or 4-bay antenna with the screen behind (or in front of) the X-shaped elements. This was a necessity in the area in which my boyhood home was located, as the city was in a near-fringe area for Cleveland TV, in addition to having other reception problems related to the geography of the area. Set-top antennas worked in that area, but reception on certain stations (the PBS affiliate, for example, which was the worst) was often iffy at best, especially in color.