You are too old if you remember.......

[vdeane]

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but I remember having to turn the TV to channel 3 or 4 to watch a video tape or play games.

(OT: Has there ever been an area with both numbers being assigned to different stations? Probably not, because at least one channel would have to be free for those kind of things.)

If I remember right, the rules were that one of those channels had to be free in every area.

That's certainly true of broadcast (which couldn't use adjacent frequencies for the most part anyways due to interference), but I don't think it it/was for cable.  I remember both 3 and 4 being used when I was growing up, although I think one of those just showed infomercials or was some kind of shopping station like QVC.  The other was WGN.  They might have swapped at one point, and I think WGN and ION occupied those stations for a time.

[SectorZ]

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but I remember having to turn the TV to channel 3 or 4 to watch a video tape or play games.

(OT: Has there ever been an area with both numbers being assigned to different stations? Probably not, because at least one channel would have to be free for those kind of things.)

If I remember right, the rules were that one of those channels had to be free in every area.

That's certainly true of broadcast (which couldn't use adjacent frequencies for the most part anyways due to interference), but I don't think it it/was for cable.  I remember both 3 and 4 being used when I was growing up, although I think one of those just showed infomercials or was some kind of shopping station like QVC.  The other was WGN.  They might have swapped at one point, and I think WGN and ION occupied those stations for a time.

I remember 3 being used on the cable system Tewksbury was a part of as a kid for one of the UHF stations (as far back as 40 years ago - and yes I had cable in 1982). We already had 2, 4, 5, and 7 all as VHF that just synced numbers from cable to broadcast. IIRC correctly, almost every area had channel 3 as the open signal. 37 for some reason was the open one on our cable system, and you always knew when someone had bootleg cable because every station 38 and up would be one number lower as it wouldn't skip 37.

[ran4sh]

I don't think cable had the problem that the signal would interfere if you wanted to use the VCR or game console.

Of course, the switch itself can fail over time. Once my SNES was more than about 8-10 years old, I could always get a better picture by disconnecting the cable from the RF switch that the SNES signal goes through. But that was a problem that occurred regardless of whether it was set to channel 3 or 4.

[hotdogPi]

37 for some reason was the open one on our cable system, and you always knew when someone had bootleg cable because every station 38 and up would be one number lower as it wouldn't skip 37.

Channel 37 cannot exist, as it interferes with radio astronomy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_37

[Scott5114]

Our TVs always required tuning to channel 3 to use the VCR, which never had anything on it, as Oklahoma City's lowest broadcast channel is 4. As a kid, I never understood why they didn't allow you to tune the TV to channel 1 and have that be the VCR channel. (Of course these days, there's a totally separate "INPUT" selector that lets you choose between HDMI ports.)

[J N Winkler]

In my area, Channels 3, 8, 10, and 12 were for NBC, PBS, ABC, and CBS respectively.  Fox was on Channel 4, though I don't remember whether that happened before we got cable.

[Dirt Roads]

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but I remember having to turn the TV to channel 3 or 4 to watch a video tape or play games.

(OT: Has there ever been an area with both numbers being assigned to different stations? Probably not, because at least one channel would have to be free for those kind of things.)

If I remember right, the rules were that one of those channels had to be free in every area.

That's certainly true of broadcast (which couldn't use adjacent frequencies for the most part anyways due to interference), but I don't think it it/was for cable.  I remember both 3 and 4 being used when I was growing up, although I think one of those just showed infomercials or was some kind of shopping station like QVC.  The other was WGN.  They might have swapped at one point, and I think WGN and ION occupied those stations for a time.

I remember 3 being used on the cable system Tewksbury was a part of as a kid for one of the UHF stations (as far back as 40 years ago - and yes I had cable in 1982). We already had 2, 4, 5, and 7 all as VHF that just synced numbers from cable to broadcast. IIRC correctly, almost every area had channel 3 as the open signal. 37 for some reason was the open one on our cable system, and you always knew when someone had bootleg cable because every station 38 and up would be one number lower as it wouldn't skip 37.

(OT: Has there ever been an area with both numbers being assigned to different stations? Probably not, because at least one channel would have to be free for those kind of things.)

Back in the 1970s when VCR output channels first arrived, we had problems with them in Putnam County, West Virginia.  WSAZ broadcasts on Channel 3, but that transmitter was some 20 miles away near Milton.  But we were only 2 miles as the crow flies from the transmitter for WCHS on Channel 8 (close enough to easily see the tower from our front porch in daylight).  We didn't have a VCR in those days, but I had an original Magnavox Odyssey game console (you know, the one with the light gun that nobody could figure out how it worked?)  When attached to the "Big TV" (16-inch) on top of the huge console stereo in the living room near the front door, there was no chance of using the Channel 3 switch and there was a lot of distortion on the Channel 4 switch.  My folks relented and got me a 10-inch black-and-white that worked well in my bedrooom further away from the front of the house.  The main rules were that I could play the Odyssey whenever I wanted to, but I could only watch TV when the Cincinnati Reds or the WVU Mountaineers were playing. 

[Scott5114]

In my area, Channels 3, 8, 10, and 12 were for NBC, PBS, ABC, and CBS respectively.  Fox was on Channel 4, though I don't remember whether that happened before we got cable.

Around here the big three stations are 4, 5, and 9 for NBC, ABC, and CBS respectively, with PBS on 13. I remember my mother speaking of 4, 5, and 9 being the big three stations as if it were a universal constant. It just so happens that 4, 5, and 9 are major stations in Kansas City, where she grew up, as well. This appears to be entirely coincidental; there doesn't seem to be much of a pattern in what channels end up as the major ones, other than Kansas City and Oklahoma City are both somewhat unusual for not having anything on either 2 or 3.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The Twin Cities has
2 (PBS)
4 (CBS)
5 (ABC)
9 (FOX)
11 (NBC)
17 (secondary PBS)
29 (former FOX)
41 (ION?)
45 (independent channel loosely affiliated with the ABC)

[abefroman329]

When cars had an option of manual or power windows.  They used to charge way more for the latter and most were standard in only Lincoln's and Cadillacs cause they were upscale autos and a crank wouldn't fit the model.

My 1999 Plymouth Neon had power windows for the front seats and manual windows for the back seats, and I have no earthly idea why.

[Bruce]

Seattle's list is fairly orderly:

2 - CBC
3 - ION
4 - ABC
5 - NBC
6/16 - NBC sister channel
7 - CBS
8 - PBS
10 - CW
11 - FOX sister channel
13 - FOX

[GCrites]

I don't think cable had the problem that the signal would interfere if you wanted to use the VCR or game console.

Of course, the switch itself can fail over time. Once my SNES was more than about 8-10 years old, I could always get a better picture by disconnecting the cable from the RF switch that the SNES signal goes through. But that was a problem that occurred regardless of whether it was set to channel 3 or 4.

I can tell you as a 10+ year game store owner that those RF adapters age out in very unpredictable and dissimilar ways. Some are just as good as the day they were made whereas others have so much snow that they are unusable. They wear out in a very analog manner. It doesn't matter who made it either -- Atari, Sega, Radio Shack, Nintendo, Sony.

[Rothman]

Nintendo's RF adapters sucked compared to Atari's.

[GenExpwy]

The minimum adjacent-channel spacing for VHF in the analog era was 60 miles (channels 4 and 5, although consecutive numbers, are not adjacent in the radio spectrum; likewise 6 and 7).

Looking at a map, and remembering what I do of the TV assignments, some of the closest 3-to-4 spacings seem to have been Sacramento — San Francisco and Madison — Milwaukee. A 3/4 RF switch probably would have been a small extra nuisance to someone living halfway between such pairs, who wanted to watch TV from both cities.

[Dirt Roads]

The minimum adjacent-channel spacing for VHF in the analog era was 60 miles (channels 4 and 5, although consecutive numbers, are not adjacent in the radio spectrum; likewise 6 and 7).

Looking at a map, and remembering what I do of the TV assignments, some of the closest 3-to-4 spacings seem to have been Sacramento — San Francisco and Madison — Milwaukee. A 3/4 RF switch probably would have been a small extra nuisance to someone living halfway between such pairs, who wanted to watch TV from both cities.

Hadn't thought about the spacing.  The closest Channel 4 assignment to WSAZ in Huntington (original transmitter near Milton) is WOAY in Oak Hill, only about 80 miles as the crow flies.  Of course, we were only about 15 miles from the old WSAZ transmitter.

Fun fact:  In 1946, Robert Thomas sent an application to the FCC to request the call letters "WOAK" for his planned television station in Oak Hill, West Virginia (which arguably was then the most important city in southern West Virginia).  The call letters came back as "WOAY" and folks at the FCC explained that they couldn't read his handwriting.  Further investigation found that "WOAK" was indeed still available, but some still think that the recognizable "WOAK" was too valuable to give out to a small location in the middle of Appalachia.

[NWI_Irish96]

Chicago has a LOT of channels -

2 - CBS
5- NBC
7 - ABC
9 - Ind (WGN)
11 - PBS Chicago
20 - FNX (don't even know what this is)
26 - CW
32 - FOX
35 - TBN
38 - Ion
44 - Telemundo
50 - MNTV
54 - PBS NW IN
59 - Ind
60 - UniMas
62 - Ind
66 - Univision

[1995hoo]

The minimum adjacent-channel spacing for VHF in the analog era was 60 miles (channels 4 and 5, although consecutive numbers, are not adjacent in the radio spectrum; likewise 6 and 7).

Looking at a map, and remembering what I do of the TV assignments, some of the closest 3-to-4 spacings seem to have been Sacramento — San Francisco and Madison — Milwaukee. A 3/4 RF switch probably would have been a small extra nuisance to someone living halfway between such pairs, who wanted to watch TV from both cities.

Hadn't thought about the spacing.  The closest Channel 4 assignment to WSAZ in Huntington (original transmitter near Milton) is WOAY in Oak Hill, only about 80 miles as the crow flies.  Of course, we were only about 15 miles from the old WSAZ transmitter.

Fun fact:  In 1946, Robert Thomas sent an application to the FCC to request the call letters "WOAK" for his planned television station in Oak Hill, West Virginia (which arguably was then the most important city in southern West Virginia).  The call letters came back as "WOAY" and folks at the FCC explained that they couldn't read his handwriting.  Further investigation found that "WOAK" was indeed still available, but some still think that the recognizable "WOAK" was too valuable to give out to a small location in the middle of Appalachia.

Nowadays, people would hear it as something else....

[kphoger]

When I was growing up in northwestern Kansas in the 1990s, channel 3 was Disney and channel 4 was ABC.

[GCrites]

Nintendo's RF adapters sucked compared to Atari's.

From a durability standpoint, yes, but the Atari ones were manual and we still see bad ones. The Ataris didn't output a strong enough signal voltage to trigger the automatic ones.

[roadman65]

When you had to get up off the sofa and change the channel on a knob on the front of the television set. Remote controls were for those with money who could afford the luxury.

[hotdogPi]

This payphone still works (tested it with a toll-free number)... but the 9 key doesn't. For those unfamiliar with the area, the local area code is 978. The 8 key works but needs to be pushed hard.

[roadman65]

Oh yeah when 411 had a human being look up the address and/ or phone number for you.

[kkt]

When you had to get up off the sofa and change the channel on a knob on the front of the television set. Remote controls were for those with money who could afford the luxury.

Remote controls that were connected to the set by a long cord.  But it's not all bad, at least the remote didn't get lost under the sofa cushions.

[catch22]

Also...

C:\>edit autoexec.bat

Some of use old fogies still have A: drives. 

This one has been used on three different machines as I upgraded PCs.  Still works on Windows 10.

[zachary_amaryllis]

my windows installation has drives a: and b:, but they're mapped to network shares.

that being said, i do have a usb floppy drive that i use when recovering old data. I spent many days going through my dad's old floppies, and sometimes a neighbor has some old floppy that he can't read anymore.