UHF Set-Top Converters for early UHF broadcasts

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by bgadow

I probably have a dozen UHF converters, from the old Mallorys, Blonder-Tongue, etc., up to some crappy later models. I have a couple small ones that attach to the back of the set. My wife brought one home for me just a couple weeks ago, someone at work gave it to her-I forget the brand but it's cheaper, from the 50s. Come to think of it, I probably have more than a dozen! Lotta good they will do me this summer! Out of the ones I've tried the old Mallory does the best. We were at a radio meet early in this decade and were browsing the silent auction tables; Kim put a bid in on it, thinking it was a radio! Around here the first real local station came on the air in '54, on UHF, and that made for brisk sales of converters. Surprisingly I don't see many sets from the 50s with built-in UHF; guess the option cost too much for most people.

Televisions with factory-installed UHF tuners were popular in areas that had (and still have) only UHF stations, such as Youngstown, Ohio, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Fresno, California, et al. In these cities a VHF-only TV would be useless unless the owner wanted to put up a huge antenna to get hit-or-miss reception from the nearest VHF stations, which could be 100 miles or more distant. The Youngstown area is a good example of what I'm talking about. The city is about 50-60 miles from Pittsburgh, which has channels 2, 4 and eleven, so a VHF-only set could receive stations from that area if a fringe-area antenna were used. It wouldn't have surprised me if many people in Youngstown got their TV reception from Pittsburgh in the '50s; I don't think Youngstown had any TV stations until the early fifties.

BTW, I've been wondering for some time how people in Federalsburg were able to receive, without cable, NBC television programming, since Salisbury only has channels 16 and 47. Was there ever an NBC affiliate in the city and if so, what happened to it? For that matter, where is the closest NBC station to Salisbury? It seems strange that they would have affiliates of two major networks but not the third, and I also think it isn't fair to force people to get cable if they want all three networks. Of course, these days with digital TV's multiplexed subchannels, channel 16 or 47 could carry NBC on one of those subcarriers.

[bgadow]

Jeff, we never had a full-time NBC affiliate. Until 1980 there was only one Salisbury station (WBOC) and they were basically a CBS station, though they carried limited programming from NBC and ABC at times. (mostly sports, I think, but some prime time shows) In '80 WMDT started, an ABC affiliate. In the 80s they also carried some NBC sports programming as I recall. In my memory neither carried things like Today, Tonight, any of the "staples". Where I live you can get Baltimore/Washington with a good outdoor antenna-if your setup is good enough you can get crystal clear reception on analog. Not too far northeast of here you can get the Philadelphia stations. But either would be in the deep fringe area for the Salisbury area and east/south. I've never had the chance to really DX down that way so I don't know what's possible. One of my sets spent its whole life in Mardela Springs, MD, which is in between me and Salisbury-it's an Emerson from about '52 so it predates local TV. Obviously the could pull in signals from the west. One thing that is special about this set is that the VHF tuner has a UHF strip for ch. 16 installed-works well. I'd like to give it one more try before the shutdown-trouble is that the crt is completely, utterly shot. I have a good replacement in the attic. Maybe I can make the swap in the next month or so.

There are places in Delaware where 40/WMGM in Wildwood,NJ comes in well. (I've picked it up here with lots of snow) They're NBC. I'm not sure if this market could have ever supported a third full-time commercial station.

[truetone36]

I have several converters, and they still turn up from time to time at flea markets,etc. I have a Sylvania UHF converter that works quite well, and a Blonder-Tongue "99" which also works well. I also have a couple of Ultraverter boxes which aren't exactly great performers.

[Reece]

In my home town of Beaumont, TX., the first stations in the early fifties were channel 2 KPRC Houston and 11 KGUL Galveston, both about 90 miles away. Good reception required putting up a 50 foot mast. Then along came Beaumont's first station KBMT, channel 31. For most people with VHF only TV's, the usual solution was to have a UHF strip substituted for an unused channel on the turret tuner, usually channel 13.
Reece

[AUdubon5425]

Originally Posted by Reece

For most people with VHF only TV's, the usual solution was to have a UHF strip substituted for an unused channel on the turret tuner, usually channel 13.

I remember my uncle telling me they used to do that a lot at the radio shop, even thought they didn't really service TVs. New Orleans's first and only (until the 80's) UHF station switched channels several times between the mid 50's and mid 60's, three or four times, starting at 61 and working its way down to 26.

[wajobu]

Although it's long gone, I certainly remember the one we had (when I was a kid) sitting on the cart below the old GE B&W.