Receiving Area TV stations & Signals (Before Cable) (Columbus, Cincinnati: how much, houses)

[Cincinnati Kid]

Remember trying to receive area TV stations before cable came along? Here in Cincinnati, there were the original VHF stations - channels: 5, 9 & 12 and later UHF outlets: 19 & 48. Depending on where you lived, it was also possible to tune in to Channel 7 in Dayton and Channel 2 also from that city. Also, with the proper antenna, you could sometimes get Channel 4 out of the Indianapolis area and Channel 3 from Louisville. Also, later on UHF were channels 14 from Oxford, Channel 16 from Kettering and Channel 22 from Dayton. Channel 45 also from Dayton came along later. What over-the-air TV stations were you able to receive?

[MiddleCincinnati]

Originally Posted by Cincinnati Kid

Remember trying to receive area TV stations before cable came along? Here in Cincinnati, there were the original VHF stations - channels: 5, 9 & 12 and later UHF outlets: 19 & 48. Depending on where you lived, it was also possible to tune in to Channel 7 in Dayton and Channel 2 also from that city. Also, with the proper antenna, you could sometimes get Channel 4 out of the Indianapolis area and Channel 3 from Louisville. Also, later on UHF were channels 14 from Oxford, Channel 16 from Kettering and Channel 22 from Dayton. Channel 45 also from Dayton came along later. What over-the-air TV stations were you able to receive?

Just working from memory, it seems like NBC and CBS (5 and 9, respectively) were around before 12, the ABC affiliate. 48 goes back to the 1950s, with roots in classroom education. 19 did not appear until around 1968. UHF receivers were a speciality item until the mid-1960s or so.

We used to get 2 and 7, but they were always fuzzy. 3 and 4 also came in occasionally late at night. Once in a great while the Lima station, 35?, would appear. You would think that Columbus and Lexington might also have come in, but I cannot recall ever seeing broadcasts from either city.

Once, during a storm, a French Canadian station briefly appeared on VHF. This may be an example of a phenomenon shortwave enthusiasts refer to as "atmospheric skip".

[Ohiogirl81]

In Madison Place, with just the rabbit ears on my set, 5 and 12 came in reasonably well, but 9 was all over the place. The UHF stations were a bigger crapshoot. Elevation matters.

[Cincinnati Kid]

The only Columbus TV station that I ever picked up with any kind of regularity was Channel 4 (then WLW-C). Lexington, Ky had only UHF stations - channels 18 and 27 so picking those up here especially in the earlier days was difficult if not impossible (although in more recent years I have seen it done). I am told that back in the day, many people in the Lexington area used to tune in to Cincinnati and Louisville TV stations. I recall seeing many deep-fringe model antennas on houses there which seem to show that to be the case.

[skippercollector]

We lived on top of a hill in Bridgetown that faced west. We could get channels 7 and 22 easily but channel 2 never came in very well. With some finagling, I could pick up channels 3 and 4. I could pick up channel 32 out of Louisville early in the morning, but not after noon. I was frustrated on Saturdays because I wanted to watch American Bandstand at 12:30 p.m. on 32 and until lunchtime the channel came in fuzzily but watchable, but after 12 the channel faded away.
My mom still lives in her house in Bridgetown. Before the digital switch-over, channel 25 in the 1990s was very difficult to pick up in the upstairs back bedroom which has a TV not connected to cable. She STILL cannot pick up 25.1 and its sister stations on that TV, no matter how much I fiddle with the antenna.
Pre-digital, only once or twice a year could I pick up the stations in Columbus and Lexington when the waves must have been bouncing around funny. I think Columbus was just too far but I never understood Lexington which was closer. I think its antenna must have faced south more so than north.

[Cincinnati Kid]

Channel 2 was always a bit more difficult to pick up. I think it was because it is/was on the lower end of the VHF band. It was a good channel to try and get since it had some programs that were blacked out on the local Cincinnati stations - like home Royals' basketball games shown on the NBC-TV Network.

Lexington having just UHF channels made that harder to receive and also Channel 18 there was right next to Cincinnati's Channel 19. In later years, I have seen both Channel 18 & 27 from Lexington via a deep fringe antenna with a rotor in suburban Cincinnati.

[WolfJames]

Living in Middletown in the 70's, we were able to pick up all of the above mentioned channels over the air except for Louisville.

[Cincinnati Kid]

I recall being at the house of my former employer in Eaton, Ohio during a summer evening in the early 1990's. He did not like cable and had a TV connected to an antenna with a rotor about 20 feet above the ground. During an hour period or so, he was able to get a station on each VHF channel and sometimes two stations by moving the antenna. Then he switched over to UHF and was able to receive a number of UHF stations. It made for an interesting evening.

[PerryMason614]

Originally Posted by MiddleCincinnati

You would think that Columbus and Lexington might also have come in, but I cannot recall ever seeing broadcasts from either city.

Probably because 4 & 6 in Columbus and 5 in Cincinnati would all cancel each other out because they are right next to each other on the dial and there would be interference. Maybe not so much 4 and 5, but definitely 5 and 6.

4 and 6 were too strong in Columbus so you couldn't get 5 during tropo season and vice versa.

Likewise with 9 and 10.

[MiddleCincinnati]

Originally Posted by PerryMason614

Probably because 4 & 6 in Columbus and 5 in Cincinnati would all cancel each other out because they are right next to each other on the dial and there would be interference.

Makes sense. I vaguely recall that this is the reason VHF channels within an area tend to be separated by two or more bands.