UHF...VHF...Rabbit ears.....
By betsyraeduke
@betsyraeduke (2670)
United States
November 3, 2008 10:04pm CST
I just answered a discussion about those old rotary phones, wanting to know who remembered them and stuff. That discussion reminded me of something else.
Does anyone remember the old TV's? I'm talking about the ones that had two dials on them for changing the channel, before the days of cable and remote control. There was a UHF dial and a VHF dial. In order to get channels on the UHF dial, you had to set the VHF dial to a certain place first; but the VHF dial worked independently of the UHF dial. These TV's also had the rabbit ear antennas. Does anyone remember these old TV's? How many of you used to own one? We had one of those types of TV's in our house when I was a kid.
2 people like this
5 responses
@Hyakkimaru (436)
• Philippines
4 Nov 08
yes, we do one at home back when i was a kid. around 1 to 3 years old I guess. That was Sony with UHF, VHF dial and there was a key lock for power switch and a black and white reception. That was a very old model. I can't remember what shows where aired that time. But the looks seems fun.
@betsyraeduke (2670)
• United States
4 Nov 08
Yes, I think they are probably all really old models by now. 
1 person likes this
@jillmalitz (5131)
• United States
4 Nov 08
Yeah, I remember them. I also remember before we even had those two. One dial we had. I also remember partylines on phones and when you only had like 4 numbers to dial or could call the operator to get hold of a number.I also remember 78rpm records. Those old tvs had tubes that you could replace yourself. My dad had a box full of tubes and I remember him undoing the back of the set and replacing the tubes. Of course then, tv was not instant on either. You had to wait for it to warm up.
1 person likes this
@betsyraeduke (2670)
• United States
5 Nov 08
Ah yes, when I was a kid, in the town that I lived in you only had to dial the last 4 digits of the number to make a local call. You have to dial all 7 to make a local call there now, but didn't when I was a kid. We also had a party line of sorts, sometimes when I picked up the phone receiver to make a call I could hear other people talking on the line, I didn't have to wait for them to be done in order to call, but it was weird that I could hear other people on the line sometimes.
@unusualsuspect (2602)
• United States
4 Nov 08
I remember those old sets. I also remember when there was only black and white TV. I have a television that's only a few years old, and I still use a rabbit ears antenna to boost the signal. I don't think thre's enough on TV to be worth paying for, so I just get the broadcast channels. The antenna lets me get a couple more than I would have without it, but I hardly watch TV any more, so it hardly matters. I'm not switching to digital, so after February 17, I'll only be using my TV to watch DVDs and tapes. I don't think I'll miss it.
@betsyraeduke (2670)
• United States
5 Nov 08
I remember black and white tv's too. We had a few of those when I was a kid too.
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
4 Nov 08
We used to have several sets like that when I was growing up. We also only had like a dozen channels most of the time...let's see there were two VHF channels, then there was channels 2, 4, 8, 11 and 13. 2 and 4 were CBS and NBC, 8 was ABC, 11 was a local channel I think and 13 was like Sesame Street and stuff. LOL Those were the days. If kids had to live with that now they'd go insane. I think that's why we played outside all the time.
[b]~~MY OWN PEACE WITHIN~~
**STAND STRONG AND BELIEVE IN YOURSELF**[/b]
1 person likes this
@betsyraeduke (2670)
• United States
5 Nov 08
"If kids had to live with that now they'd go insane. I think that's why we played outside all the time.".......hehehe! You might have a point there! 
@redhotpogo (4401)
• United States
4 Nov 08
yeah I we had one of the rabbit ear tv's with the uhf, and vhf. sucked. Turn the top knob, ok turn the bottom knob.
like dialing around trying to find a station. And the television back then (80's) was so terrible that you would end up turning those knobs all day long. You had to have the right combination of knob turns, with just the right angle of the rabbit ears. Sometimes you had to hold onto the rabbit ears, cause it would pick up better when you were touching it. oh and i also remember the rotary phones. had one of those too. a black one.... 4....0.....4.....6....crap! start over again
1 person likes this
@betsyraeduke (2670)
• United States
4 Nov 08
Hahaha! Yes! That is such an accurate description of both! Thank goodness for modern technology on both TV's and phones!
1 person likes this
