The 12 Days of Aluminum Christmas Trees...rather, TV Antennas

[joebtsflk1]

First, the 12 Days of Christmas are supposed to start with Christmas Day, but it's really hard to sell that concept in January, so I'm starting it today so it can end on New Years Day.

In the micro-climate here in Cañon City CO, there are areas that don't receive the damaging winds that can develop just a few miles away from the mountains. And, we are spared the nasty hailstorms that plague most other areas along the Front Range of Colorado. Consequently, roofs last longer and there's no reason to mess around removing antennas, even if they haven't been used for 20 or 30 years. Yes, there are new antennas going up among the HDTV purists, but it's a very small minority.

So, it's a vintage antenna a day for the next 12 days. A number of these antennas in this series are no longer with us, having been sacrificed over the years so that your frosty can of Coors could be born. NIMBYs be gone, it's up on the rooftop along with old St. Nick.

Day 1, the unique guying system looks a bit like a Christmas tree:

 

[joebtsflk1]

Day 2: two conicals, stacked of course. Check out the nice looking twisted twin lead. The roof here has since been replaced, and this antenna hopefully was reborn into a case of suds.

 

[umfan]

Is the first one a guying system or is it also a HAM Radio antenna?

 

[joebtsflk1]

Best I can tell is that it may also be part of the stealth Santa Tracking System employed for the past 61 years by NORAD in nearby Colorado Springs... http://www.noradsanta.org/

 

[joebtsflk1]

Day 3: Three French Hens...uh, pigeons...

 

[joebtsflk1]

Day 4: It's Show Time! Get the presents under the tree and a genuine Winegard on the roof. (credit: AmericanRadioHistory.com)

 

[joebtsflk1]

Day 5: Five Electro-Lens GOLD elements!

 

[joebtsflk1]

Day 6: Six driven dipoles....

 

[joebtsflk1]

Day 7: Self-supporting cast iron tower...

 

[joebtsflk1]

Day 8: Quad-stacked high band yagis

 

[joebtsflk1]

Day 9: Because Nine and Winegard rhymes, sort of...



Reception has been lost from this specimen for some time...again, you can blame the roofers

 

[Prescott Joe]

If I recollect properly, Didn't both Winegard and Channel Master both have "V" or
wedge antennas starting in the 70's??? There may have been others as well.
I cannot help but wonder how well they performed.......

 

[joebtsflk1]

Day 10: 10 element high & low band yagis, stacked. This picture is several years old. Today, this antenna is listing at about 30° from vertical, or three sheets to the wind, and one more snapped guy wire away from getting melted down into Silver Bullet cans.




The low band antennas here were all cut to channel 5, formerly receiving KOAA at Pueblo. It's only 35 air miles between Cañon City and Pueblo, but there are 100 to 200 foot bluffs on the east side of Cañon that made the fringe model necessary. The high band antenna picked up the PBS on channel 8 at Pueblo, and the heavily guarded local translators that pick up channels 11 and 13 in Colorado Springs. Pikes Peak blocks direct reception of the Cheyenne Mountain signals in most of Cañon City. And don't think about jumping the fence to visit the local translator site. It's in the middle of a state prison farm.

Today, all over-the-air TV in the market originates from Cheyenne Mountain. The translators on heavily guarded TV Hill have their signals microwaved in. In the digital transition, channel 5 installed a UHF translator at TV Hill after moving their main transmitter to UHF atop Cheyenne Mtn. Channel 13's translator here moved to UHF. Channel 11 opted for a new VHF translator, using a ten element yagi. I may post some pictures of TV Hill in a few days.

New Year's Eve is tomorrow night; don't let the bed-springs bite...

 

[joebtsflk1]

If I recollect properly, Didn't both Winegard and Channel Master both have "V" or
wedge antennas starting in the 70's??? There may have been others as well.
I cannot help but wonder how well they performed.......

I've been learning about these as I go. Growing up in the 70s there were a lot of RCA branded antennas that replaced people's original antennas in my hometown. That's what the local TV dealer pushed, along with bracketed 35 ft Rohn 25 towers and Alliance rotors.

But I do remember seeing some of the wedge antennas in Iowa during that time, I'm assuming they were Winegards. Here in Cañon City CO, I've only seen one wedge antenna, and I'm not sure if I have a picture of it, or if it's still on the roof of that house.

Here's a bonus pic of one of the RCA antennas spotted here...

 

[joebtsflk1]

Stubborn flu bug send me into relapses.....sleepy much of the day. Almost missed...

Day 11: The Finco Model 400-A "Bedspring" This particular specimen was one of three I've seen in this area. Prior to moving to Cañon City CO I'd only seen one other example in my 40 years of aerial spotting.

 

[joebtsflk1]

And finally, Day 12: This seemed fitting for New Year's Day. Yes, this is a swing set antenna support structure...

 

[joebtsflk1]

Here's ground-zero for over-the-air TV in Cañon City, TV Hill on the East Cañon state prison complex. This was from a few years ago, when I was scoping out this site for a proposed LPFM. Besides the three TV translators, there were several FM translators as well, making this a real RF hot zone.

But with only three TV channels represented, I haven't cut the cord yet...




And, here's a better image of the Finco 400-A catalog page...

 

[Prescott Joe]

It's surprising how some areas have few, if any, OTA television while others
like Cortez, CO has translators from beautiful large cities like Denver and
Salt Lake City. They even have television from Albuquerque, NM. In all,
there are about 100 different OTA channels available in the Cortez, CO area.