Re: Turn Your Radio On ...

On 1/31/25 11:36 PM, rbowman wrote:

On Fri, 31 Jan 2025 20:08:17 -0500, WokieSux282@ud0s4.net wrote:
 

    It was common for US stations to start/end/both with the national
    anthem or something similar. A test pic of an eagle or something
    'patriotic' on the screen. The practice kinda faded in the latter 60s
    once we had been told to be self-loathing.

 The test patterns were dropped as color TV became more popular. Color TV
drove my uncle crazy. You had to be a little artistic to adjust the RGB
balance so everyone didn't look like a corpse and he was a techie, not an
artist.

   Heh Heh ... early color WAS 'tecchy' fer sure !
   I also remember the like inch-thick LEAD GLASS
   thingie in front of the CRT. After about 5 years
   it'd start to get 'cloudy'. Wonder why ? :-)

There was a scam that advertised in the magazines that would convert your
black & white TV to color at a very reasonable price. It was a mylar sheet
you stuck on the tube.  Hey, it was color, wasn't it?

   Hey, I *remember* those !
   One more complicated one was a motorized roller
   with 3-color mylar. Maybe, possibly, if you got
   it synced JUST right ... ?

The updated version was the 'digital' antennas when the broadcasters
switched over. I'm still using rabbit ears that were designed to clamp on
the rain gutter of a vehicle that I bought sometime in the '90s.

   Bunny ears DID work - at least near big cities.
   Alas I was well away from big cities - the
   nearest station was about 70 miles. Had to
   have a big antenna on a mast with an amp
   wired up next to the antenna. I remember when
   I was still quite young the amp crapped out, so
   about midnight I climbed the mast and replaced
   it with a spare.
   Maybe SOME bunnies have the bandwidth to cope
   with DTV.
   I have a more modern little DTV antenna sticking
   up just above the roof-line. It's pretty decent
   actually - and I have a slightly better one as
   a backup. When the cable goes out I can get maybe
   25 stations over-air. Only a few are worth watching
   alas but it's *something* and doesn't COST anything.
   Don't have the net bandwidth for high-def streaming.
   Did have a HORRIBLE selection of flix yesterday so
   I watched a Jon Pertwee "Dr.Who" on Pluto - in
   'theatre mode'. Held up, barely. Youtube works good
   at 480p. Neither costs anything unless you use-up
   all your gigabytes on the service. Nope, never gonna
   buy NetFlix or any of the rest. If my wires go down
   it'll be sat dish next. Actually my cable line IS
   down, kinda lying on the lawn for 4+ years, and they
   are NOT interested in fixing it. Would have to spend
   a couple thousand to have the now-big trees cut out
   of the wire path. Hung it sorta up from a few tree
   branches so the lawn guy won't run a mower over it ...
   In short "Makin' Do"  :-)