When I was a kid, for quite a while we lived near L.A. One benefit to living in that area of the country was that someone was thinking when they built the TV transmitters. They put them all in one place, on top of Mount Wilson. Antenna installation was simple and quick.

Many didn’t even put one up. They just used the rabbit ears. However, to get the really clear pictures, we needed a pole and four elements, that is to say, horizontal pieces of aluminum form something that resembled to arrows.

Once installed, one person gets in the house, one gets on the roof and if there is a third person, he stood in the backyard. The person on the roof adjusted the direction of the antenna while the one in the house reported the picture quality.

So there it was. No genius required. It was a piece of cake. If a person didn’t know which direction Mount Wilson was, he could get a hint by looking at the antennas on the surrounding houses.

Occasionally, problems were encountered. One of my teachers told me that when antenna was lined up properly at his house he had two images, a ghost image on the screen. After trying to adjust the ghost image out for A while, he turned the antenna towards a nearby water tower…problem solved. He was getting a reflection off the tower that was stronger than the direct signal from the mountain.

Nonetheless, it really worked out good for us. Though the transmitted were close to fifty miles away, we all received good signals. Aaaand, it was handy all five stations were in the same direction. There was no need to reposition for each channel.

Since they came up with the new signal standards, I find myself wondering if it still works out so well. It makes me wonder if it works out at all. I must guess, at the least, those people that settled for rabbit ear antennas before are likely having to make other arrangements. Maybe, if I have some readers in the Los Angeles area, you might let me know.

I have known a few around here that gave up and got cable. It does make me wonder if the cable companies are behind some huge grand conspiracy.