Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Whatever happened to old-fashioned rabbit ears?

A woman after my own heart...



I love her! We had rabbit ears. Anyone remember that? Sure...this was before digital TV, before cable, before satellite dish. Just an old-fashioned system of planting an antenna up on a telephone pole and hoping it was high enough to get a good signal and when it didn't, you'd grab a roll of tin foil and wrap it around the antennas right there on your TV.

My aunt. Man, I envied my cousins. Their TV was high up on their telephone pole and they didn't have to use rabbit ears. I remember when they came out with Wizard of Oz and I KNEW we weren't going to get it clear and might not even get it at all.

I suckered my cousin into letting my sister and I watch it over to their house. Uncle Cecil, he was a trip. Hated kids. Hated Wizard of Oz. I knew he'd be passed out on the sofa anyway.

It was summer, I remember that plain as day. Icecube popsickles and Wizard of Oz. What a night.

Of course, Uncle Cecil would wake up in the middle and start in. I heard he threw a lamp at my aunt one time and after that, I lost all respect for him. What an ass.

But rabbit ears. Good old fashioned rabbit ears.

Thank God for progress.

5 comments:

  1. We had rabbit ears too. When I was a kid TV came in great because our TV was black and white.

    Morgan Mandel
    http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

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  2. We never had rabbit ears where I live cause they weren't big enough to pull in any signal. Instead, we had an antenna on the top of the house roof -one that was supposed to be a "general purpose" antenna and not one that was specific to one particular channel. Some of our neighbors had two antennas -one for the station about 50 miles away and the other was supposed to pull in the station about 100 miles to the west of us. All either of them did, really, was provide a tiny bit of shape here and there to the fuzzy snow and give you sound that wavered every few minutes or so -wafting through in bits and pieces. I'll take what we have no today -58 channels via a cable and my computer hooks to the internet via than method too! Yippy skippy! That's one part of the good old days I don't miss in the least cause I love me som clear television viewing (and listening too.)

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  3. Aluminum foil on rabbits ears was one option. Another was having someone adjust the rabbit ears to achieve the clearest picture, then have to stand there holding the antenna because the picture collapsed when they let go...they became part of the reception apparatus. Smart people passed that job to someone else.

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  4. I'll agree with Jeni and take today's methods of getting TV. We will have to do something with the one in the RV as there are times when we are not in a park with cable & rely on the rooftop antennae. I'll probably go ahead and get a new TV to put in but may also have to replace the antennae.

    How did your daughter like her camera? Is she making good use of it? Wait until she starts adding other lenses and really getting into it! You'll never again have to worry about what to buy her for gifts. There is always something that she can use with it.

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  5. Rabbit ears with foil on them. I am so glad that era is over.

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