About 15-20 including the low power stations. Since the DTV transition several more low power stations have come on the air. Most don't interest me. But there are a few good ones like RTV, Antenna TV, ThisTV, AccuWeather, PBS World. Was just looking at the TV Guide info, one channel KWDA-LP has 9 sub-channels listed!

I have tried a couple of other antennas including a new Winegard thinking the old one wasn't doing as well as it could and maybe I could improve reception of LP stations. However, nothing performed as well as this old RS-Antennacraft antenna on UHF! I think it has to do with the folded or loop dipole UHF driven element used. That's the main visible difference between this and a similar sized Winegard that simply didn't have the signal strength. Antennacraft still sells antennas. Saw one at a Home Depot a year or so ago by the "GE" name, GE TV24767 was the number. I recall someone who went looking for one found out Home Depot discontinued it.

As I found it, before my modification...
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...antshort-1.jpg


Antenna as advertised by RS in 1995
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...5-VU-110XR.jpg

I was looking at old TV print advertisements the other day online and saw an old ad from the '50s for Admiral "Son-R" remote control televisions. The ad stated that, unlike most other TV remote control systems, the Son-R remote turned the television completely off (except for the remote receiver) as well as on, and that "No tubes (are) left burning in the set!"

Also, there were some folks who still referred to refrigerators as "ice boxes" as late as the 1970s. Oscar Madison (played by Jack Klugman) in the 1970s ABC television series "The Odd Couple" was one of them, with his roommate, Felix Unger (the late Tony Randall) being another. I suppose there were many people who grew up in the '20s or earlier who still used the term "ice box" (out of force of habit, no doubt) for years or decades as well, even after GE introduced its "Monitor Top" electric refrigerators in the '30s. Again, it was largely out of force of habit; these older folks became so accustomed to using the term "ice box" when they had one that, when the electric refrigerator came out and the old ice box was scrapped, the term stuck.

As far as "tin foil" goes, however, I am at a loss to explain why this phrase was still being used even into the 1970s to describe foil which is, nowadays, anything but tin -- unless it was actually made of tin when it was first marketed in the US. Today, however, we know that this type of foil is actually aluminum, but as with the term "ice box", the phrase "tin foil" was used for years by some older people, again purely out of force of habit. When a phrase is used often enough, many times it becomes common in the language and is used for years, decades or even generations before it finally falls out of favor and is replaced by another. I can think of a few crude phrases still being used by some folks these days that originated perhaps thirty, forty or more years ago, and that refuse to die.

The term "tin foil hats" is still used to describe people whose beliefs tend to be on the edge.

I saw the line "Zenith, gone but not forgotten". I used to work for Motorola. They are "Almost gone" with only the Motorola Solutions group left after Google finishes buying the cellphone portion.

Ed, you're correct about that folded dipole. the single driven UHF element with the director array in front seems to work best for me too. The bowtie shape enhances its function.
I have a vintage Channel Master yagi (4257) that uses the same element.
Attachment 173947
This gets us 45 DT channels without moving the rotor. 30 from Philadelphia, which the antenna is aimed at. 15 more locals come in due to high signal strength. The amplifiers are located in the attic - in case they crap out in bad weather. needless to say I have no use for cable.

RS used to have a simple dipole for UHF on all its antennas, and it barely worked, all that changed when RS offered the folded dipole. Maybe CM's 1977 patent expired and Antennacraft started using it. BTW Antennacraft is made by Winegard.

I watch HDTV with rooftop over the air antennas, and since I live between Baltimore and Philadelphia I get about 46 different programs with little duplication. Great for sports as I can sometimes get around the blackouts.

All for free. Try that with cable or fiber!

Cliff

I watch both over the air and cable. All except one of the broadcasters here have subchannels. My favorite is one of the PBS subchannels. Also, all except two of the broadcasters have Spanish language subchannels, not supprising for Texas. In fact, after a recent re-scan, two independent Spanish language channels have shown up.

Cable has become almost useless for me with almost all the channels turning to reality shows, most of which I do not watch.

I would have dropped cable for OTA HD long ago, but two of the local TV stations in Cleveland (wouldn't you know it, the two stations whose subchannels are the ones I watch the most) have VHF DTV channels, which my Clear Cast OTA DTV antenna won't pick up -- that or else the stations' signals, for whatever reason, do not reach here (I am about 35 miles north and east of downtown Cleveland).

The Clear Cast does, however, receive all other OTA DTV stations in this area extremely well; in fact, I was not expecting the results I saw from this antenna when I first tried it on my flat screen. Channel 3, the NBC affiliate in Cleveland, did not reach my area in analog at all, but its digital signal is as clear as a good photograph -- as I would and do expect from DTV. Ditto for channel 5 (ABC), channels 25.1 and 25.3 (PBS and PBS World in Cleveland) and channel 61 (Univision, the only Spanish OTA television station I am aware of in northeastern Ohio).

Now, my savings are up to about $6,425.00 not counting June. :)

I LOVE watching and recording high-quality TV signals for free!

Any plans to repeat the experiment with an antenna that has reasonable gain in the VHF high band?

jr

Only a good Yagi or Log-periodic antenna with at least 5 elements will work for a "problem" channel.

An apartment trick I saw employed once had an FM yagi antenna attached to a ceiling fan stem. The entire business was hidden from view by a huge blanket or quilt. This looked normal after while and kept the neighbor upstairs from hearing too much sound transmission.

Where was this blanket-covered antenna located? Why would it need to be hidden to keep a neighbor from "hearing" something?

I would think you'd also be getting Washington, D.C. TV if you are between Baltimore and Philadelphia, if your antenna is on a rotor.

No. I haven't tried that yet. However, one day a month or so ago, out of sheer curiosity, I hooked up my ClearCast HDTV antenna to my flat screen and saw, to my surprise (in addition to the Cleveland TV stations I normally receive here, minus 8 and 19 and their subs), TV stations from Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, Canada, all coming in every bit as good as the locals. I was used to seeing Detroit and Windsor TV here in the summer before digital TV replaced analog, but I was amazed to get these stations' DTV signals with an indoor antenna as well as I did. The only Detroit stations I didn't see were their CBS channel 62 and FOX channel 2.

Nothing like a little Summer tropo to enhance reception! I suspect that you will not find these channels so easily in winter... 40 miles (or so) of the path is across water, so that helps as well! Good catch!:yes:
Fox 2 actually transmits on ch 7 so the old High band VHF problem rears its ugly head again.
The CBS channel transmits on ch 44 with decent power (but about 1/2 that of some of the Detroit stations)... perhaps another scan or two would have found it.:scratch2:

jr

Detroit FCC page:
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tv...&slon2=&size=9

I live within one mile of Lake Erie, so I'm not a bit surprised that I was seeing the Detroit/Windsor DTV stations (except 2 and 67) as well as I was.

You are correct as to the Detroit/Windsor stations disappearing in winter, since most TV DX dries up once winter sets in. It was still winter when I received my ClearCast DTV antenna via FedEx last year, so all I was receiving were Cleveland stations and one station calling itself "CSCN" on channel 39, all with reception quality far exceeding my expectations. If not for the fact that I do not receive channels 8 and 19 OTA with this antenna, I would have canceled my cable shortly after the antenna arrived at my doorstep last year.

I will not be continuing my experiments with VHF high-band reception, however, after reading another post in this thread that stated I would need at least a five-element VHF antenna to receive channels 8 and 19, both of which are on VHF DTV channels. Because I live in an apartment building, outdoor antennas of any kind (except satellite dishes; go figure :scratch2:) are forbidden, so my only recourse is either do without those two channels or keep my cable, the latter carrying all my area's local channels plus a few (quite a few) which I do not watch. I could not cancel my cable service if I wanted to, since it is part of a bundle from Time Warner Cable. There would be an early termination fee (well over $100, IIRC) charged to my cable bill if I were to cancel my cable at this time, even if I kept the other two services (Internet and home phone).

Check your notes... I think that before you reported CSCN as ch 25.9, which we determined *was* a Cleveland station (audio only) for the visually impaired. (Cleveland Sight Center Network)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WVIZ

jr

No, I can't get any Washington DC stations. Probably slightly too far around the earth's curvature...

Sometimes I get stations from New Jersey, Delaware, Allentown and York.
Seems somewhat weather dependent.
Cliff