Zenith Wavemagnet TV box?

[old_tv_nut]

Waht exactly is it? never saw one like it before -
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...E:B:SS:US:1123

[josephdaniel]

Antenna switch or a signal amp?

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by josephdaniel

Antenna switch or a signal amp?

It was used to use the power line as an antenna.
I only saw one. It worked fair on one channel.

[Einar72]

Great for viewing blender waveforms on your TV.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

It was used to use the power line as an antenna.

Oh, no! Even ZENITH got into that "whole-house TV antenna" scam business? Shame, shame!

[old_tv_nut]

Well, it did turn your whole house into an antenna; but the question always was, why would anyone think a house makes a good antenna?

[W3XWT]

What can one say about Zenith???

"Where Z-TAC lives forever"?

or

"Where the parts go in before the name goes on"?

[ggregg]

Initially, many people thought that an antenna on a roof was an eyesore. This was one way around it. Like someone said, a great way to get in house interference on the set.

[josephdaniel]

The preformance on one of those today would be even worse probaby deut to all of the new CFL bulbs everywhere.

[wa2ise]

I remember, back in the '60s, ads in TV Guide for plug in TV antenna adapters. A power plug with a sideways cylinder (looked like made of plastic) mounted to the plug, and twin lead going into that cylinder. I would guess a pair of high voltage capacitors connected to the power line and twinlead conductors. Making the house wire act like more twinlead, eventually getting TV signals from the overhead power company service wires, at least in theory... No noise immunity or ghost suppression you'd have with a real rooftop antenna.

[josephdaniel]

I wouldent think that the "antenna would extend beyond the HV transformer outside the house but if two houses are connected to the same transformer or in an apartment then that would be some interesting results.