Philco head-scratcher--UHF stations without converter on VHF-only TV?

[bgadow]

Jeff, the strips I have are unused, from a long-gone Zenith dealer. I think I am right that they are the strips, and not just paraphenalia that went with them. Seems like the little envelopes include a replacement "window" to fit on the Zenith "bullseye" tuning knobs, in the slot where you put that strip.

There was never a full-time NBC affilliate, Jeff. In the early days WBOC carried all the networks, but from what I've seen from old TV Guides the vast majority was usually CBS. WMDT carried some NBC programming in the 80s, but mostly just sports. Nobody local had the Tonight Show or SNL. Here where I live good quality antennas were real common. Most houses had them. (though they are dissapearing) Usually mounted on a tower or a repurposed utility pole, and often with a rotor. With a good setup you can get all the DC/Baltimore VHF stations quite clear, on analog at least. The UHF stations are iffy. Growing up, 10 miles from where I live now, we had a good Winegard antenna on a pole but no rotor. It faced the city; trouble with that was it was facing the dead wrong direction for the local channels; they came in so poorly that you really couldn't watch them.

I have never viewed anything on 36 other than a slight difference in the color of the snow. I never realized, until you mentioned it, that there was such a translator-they certainly didn't promote it much. There is a 36 in far western MD, a PBS station, and that is what I thought was "tickling my tuner".

If you go north of here not too far you can capture the Philly stations. I suspect there are some folks ideally located with a rotor who can pull in all 3 markets quite well. There is also WGAL-8 in Lancaster which I have watched a few times in my DXing days, as well as the NBC affiliate on 40, I think Wildwood, NJ, maybe still WMGM? I have had some luck in the past DXing Norfolk, and AK member JCFitz mentioned having good luck with pulling in those stations at least in the area of the VA/MD border.

(probably very boring to the general populace here, but I enjoy talking about it with you, Jeff!)

Pete,
Quite a bit of good reading in many of those magazines. I like reading the "populars" just for the q&a columns. I will definately be on the lookout for some of those names!