I can only get up to about channel 20 on my UHF tuner from my old philco roundie off the cable. is there something special about the analog signal over the cable that accounts for this. the provider it Brighthouse.

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ah I see, I do recall on my not too old analog tv a setting that must be pushed for "cable" to work. the lower channels worked ok but I need it pushed to get the "cable ready" to work.

Thanks for the reminder.

http://www.dbsinstall.com/Broadcast/vhf_uhf_freq_list.asp
Here's a table of the frequencies used on air and on cable. Also many cable systems are going digital, and usually channels 2-13 are the last analog ones left before it's all digital.

ah I see, I do recall on my not too old analog tv a setting that must be pushed for "cable" to work. the lower channels worked ok but I need it pushed to get the "cable ready" to work.

Thanks for the reminder.

My XL-100 CTC185 RCA is set up like that as well. There is an option on one of the on-screen menus for signal type - antenna or cable TV. If it is set to "antenna" and you have cable, all you will get will be the local TV stations in your area; the cable stations such as WGN America, et al. will be skipped. If this option is set to "cable TV" and all you have is an antenna, your set may not pick up anything. I say "may not" because I'm not sure what happens with that particular setting on my set (I don't have an antenna; I've had cable since I moved here over ten years ago). The CTC185 is supposed to be set up to select air signals or cable automatically depending on whether you have cable or an antenna, but mine doesn't seem to work that way -- the selection must be made from the on-screen menu. I was told about nine years ago, when I had the set in for service, that there was a problem with the so-called "jungle" IC that might cause trouble with over-the-air TV reception; however, I do not use an antenna, so if there is such a problem I haven't noticed it -- and as I said, it has been nine years since the technician told me of the defect in the chip. If there had been any kind of major problem with it, I'm sure I would have noticed it right off the bat -- as soon as I unpacked the set. I've never heard of defects like this taking nine years to show up; however, since it doesn't affect cable reception, I don't even think about it.