Can TV slinging be done?

[JRearick]

Hello all, new on here.

I have a lot of 20s-40s radios that I listen to daily. I find the AM bands near my house lacking, so I broadcast my own AM radio signal via a "talking house" AM transmitter. The transmitter is connected to my sangean internet radio that is capable of not only picking up vintage radio programming websites, but also is connected to my own server to broadcast whatever I like on my own hard drives. No matter what radio the kids and I listen to, it's what we want, commercial free (except radiodismuke.com to which they have vintage ads that we love).

Can this be done at home with a television signal? A small, low output from my own server, broadcasting just strong enough for my own property?

Just an idea that would be grand if it could be done.

[user181]

Yes, this is certainly possible and several members here have done just that. There are modulators made by Blonder Tongue which can be used to broadcast a short distance if an antenna is connected to them.

I haven't done this myself (yet), so others will be able to say more about the particulars.

[Electronic M]

Phill's old radios sum's up what it takes to run a blonder tongue well. https://antiqueradio.org/HomeTVTransmitter.htm

I've got 4 BTs set up, and I could use a computer to feed them continuous video, but I don't watch much on a regular schedule so I just manually que up whatever I want or leave my cable box feeding them. Right now my main system can take video from a PC (I have both an old graphics card that has an S-Video output and an HDMI TO AV converter hanging off the DVI/HDMI output), cable TV, 3 digital video disc formats, 2 analog video disc formats and no less than 3 video tape formats...And a partridge in a pair tree. My secondary system has a few less formats but all my videogame consoles hooked up...

[mr_rye89]

Yeah the Blonder Tongue agile modulator is like the "talking house" transmitter of the vintage TV realm. Mine is tied into my AV system via Kramer Matrix switch so the Roku/DVD/Raspi/VCR/LD/SAT can be seen on any analog TV in or near the house. I can even take a 13" analog TV out so I can watch Cheers/Taxi in the hot tub

On that note I need a "talking house" as I get a lot of music from the satellite reciever that I'd like to hear on the Philco.......

[wb2mep]

Just out of curiosity, which model Roku are you using? The new ones only have HDMI outputs. I have to find a way to get You Tube on my vintage TVs since my wife's native-language channels are one by one dropping off of satellite and going to on-line distribution only. Wondering what older model Rokus would have composite video outputs (and Ethernet inputs - my DSL modem/router doesn't have WiFi).

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by wb2mep

Just out of curiosity, which model Roku are you using? The new ones only have HDMI outputs. I have to find a way to get You Tube on my vintage TVs since my wife's native-language channels are one by one dropping off of satellite and going to on-line distribution only. Wondering what older model Rokus would have composite video outputs (and Ethernet inputs - my DSL modem/router doesn't have WiFi).

They don't sell new rokus with composite output anymore and I couldn't find one used so I just have an HDMI TO AV converter for mine.

If all you need is YouTube you could buy an older laptop with S-Video output (which a $1 adapter will make into composite), or get an old graphics card with S-Video output and put it into a desktop. I have such a card in a high spec windows 10 PC I use primarily for playing media.

[mr_rye89]

Ah crap I forget the model and what year I bought it, it’s like a big stick of gum has HDMI and a 1/8” trrs connector for A/V……

So are you getting the foreign language channels from Galaxy 19? IPTV is cheaper than renting a satellite transponder…..

[wb2mep]

Yes, we're getting the programming from Galaxy 19. My wife's from Vietnam, there used to be as many as 7 Vietnamese-language channels on there. Most were DTV subchannels from Los Angeles and San Francisco. I think they were feeding the sat. uplink from a DTV converter box receiving the OTA broadcast. At times the picture would pixellate and break up just like my DTV converter box does, while the satellite signal remains at full strength.

[Tube TV]

I've had good luck with a Curtis video sender. Mine runs on UHF channel 14. I get a range of 200 feet with it just sitting on the table and can walk anywhere in the yard with a pocket TV and receive the signal.

Looks like this, just with Curtis branding. About the size of a deck of cards.



There's a few models and brands out there, and a few different frequencies. Some running around channel 12 or 13, most seem to be on the low end of the UHF band