On Sat, 11 Feb 2006 01:29:15 GMT, Bob wrote:

mm wrote:

My mother paid a tv guy to connect our tvs to the rooftop antenna,
back in 1957. When I was in the attic several years later, a little
before she was going to move, I saw that he had just twisted the wires
together, even though there was a flatlead antennal splitter hanging
right there, not being used.

This is boring. Skip to the last paragraph at the end.

It's possible, remotely possible, that he brought the splitter, tried
it and decided he was getting better reception, all in all, without
it. I think the antenna lead only went to one room, the den?, and my
mother wanted a tv in the bedroom too. (Although I don't remember us
having two sets. !!! or what the second set would have looked like.
After the Dumont broke, we got a Zenith with remote control. But that
was in the den. Plainly I do remember the three runs of flatlead
twisted together,(one from the antenna and two from the sets) so we
must have had two sets.)

Or maybe the previous owner had an antenna wire in the living room and
that's why there was a splitter in the attic, but I don't remember
seeing such a wire.

Back in those days there were a lot of fly-by-night TV repair shops.
Most breakdowns didn't require a great deal of skill to fix, and the
industry was much less regulated than it is today. Someone could read a
few books, buy some tools and tubes, and set up a business.

The industry is regulated today? I'm serious. I haven't heard
anything about this.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.