Re: Connecting 16th century antenna wire to 21st century coax

[not_real@xxxxxxx (Beachcomber)]

On 23 Jan 2006 19:16:13 -0800, "buffalobill" <wjohnston@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>TN climate may have rusted out your 300 ohm rooftop antenna, making
>your old system low quality or possibly useful to a radio.
>see hdtv antenna compass directions from entering just your zipcode at:
>http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx
>

That old twin-lead cable reminds me of the setup in our city apartment
building back in 1961.   The twin-lead was connected directly to the
back of the TV with screw terminals.   Occasionally a wire would break
and it would be necessary to re-attach it.   The problem was how to
strip it...  The plastic dielectric was the most awful, stiff material
around.

Thankfully my father showed me the way.  He lit it with a match and
burned away the plastic from the bare copper wires.   I still remember
the drip drip of hot plastic and the nasty smell it produced.

There weren't many stations, just the ABC, CBS, NBC and a struggling
PBS affiliate that ran shows about "math lessons" for educational TV.
There was also one big-city independent station that ran Laurel &
Hardy, Abbott & Costello, the 3 stooges and some fine local children's
programs.

Every few months a tube on the set would go bad.   Then we called the
Zenith Repairman who brought no less than 3 giant tube caddies and
filled up the living room with spare replacement tubes when the cases
were open.   Later, every drugstore had a tube-tester available and we
could test and sometimes even replace our own tubes.

Beachcomber