The Evening Rambler for August 28, 2009

Goodbye analog television

A few months back - June I think it was - the switch to digital tv happened. We had applied the government coupons we got in the mail to the cost of two Zenith converter boxes, weeks ahead of the deadline. I didn't know if the picture would be that much better, after all, it would end up on an old analog tv picture tube anyway.

What I hadn't taken into account were all the additional sub-channels. Instantly we went from 10 local channels to 22, and a 23rd channel, a free movie channel, was added later. (And no, I won't buy cable or satellite. Thanks for asking.) Two of the channels show the local weather radar, and that has come in handy more than once. Also, the image is noticably better.

One thing I'll miss though, is those times when odd atmospheric conditions would allow long distance stations to skip into my tv. When I was a kid, it wasn't all that rare to pick up channel 6 from Sedalia Missouri, 7 from Pittsburg Kansas, and the two 13's, Topeka Kansas and Columbia Missouri. I recall watching the old black and white movie, "The Fly" on 13 out of Topeka one night. Every so often the picture would dissolve in static - interference from Columbia 13 maybe - then come back. That made an already scary science fiction / horror movie even more intense. We'd rarely get the Springfield Missouri stations though, their channels 3 and 10 were usually clobbered by "bleed-through" from our local channels 4 and 9.

Years later, I made a game of it when I noticed the atmospherics were especially good. In the 1990's we had a small portable color set that was excellent at picking up those weak signals. If I could spare the time, I'd set down with paper and pen and channel surf, noting all the unusual channels. Then I'd try to make out where the broadcasts were from. That little tv would pull in stations, not only from other parts of Missouri (Columbia, Springfield, Joplin, St. Louis), and Kansas (Topeka, Pittsburg, Wichita), but also from Oklahoma, Iowa, Illinois, and I think Fayetteville Arkansas once. Not all at the same time, of course. The long distance champ...channel 55 out of Springfield ILLINOIS, of all places. I have absolutely no clue how that high of a UHF frequency could have skipped that far, but it did...briefly.

Digital tv is definitely an improvement, but it's a whole different animal. Pulling in long distance television signals will never happen again.

I have questions for my readers

Speaking of missing things, here's the first question...

1. If you could travel back in time to the 1960's, what modern thing that didn't exist then would you miss most? (It doesn't have to be just one thing, list all you want)

2. If you knew you could Not fail at something, what would you attempt?

3. Phooey, there was a third question...maybe it'll come back to me. For now I'll turn it around...What would you like to ask me?

Ah, I've got it, the third question was...well, I guess it has to be number 4 now...

4. What's the oddest tourist attraction you've ever seen on vacation? (Again, list more than one if it's a toss-up.)

I'd really like to get comments from you all. I'm curious what thoughts I've jarred loose with this.