On Tuners and UHF Mods/Adapters

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

UHF television in the 1950s was crude compared to the '60s to now, as the stations operated with low power on very high UHF channels, 70-83. Youngstown, Ohio's first UHF channel, WFMJ-TV, now on channel 21, for example, began its operations on channel 73.

Crude and low power; Yes I agree!
Channels 70-83; No way! The Jan 1954 Radio Electronics magazine (the one with a CT-100 screen photo of Faye Emerson on the cover) has a listing of the channels on the air as of Nov. 23, 1953... It lists about 108 UHF channels on the air at that time. Most are concentrated at the lower end to middle of the UHF band (14-50), with *only 4* shown in the 70-83 range.
These were:
WLOK-73, Lima
WFMJ-73, Youngstown
WTPA-71, Harrisburg
WTVU-73, Scranton
It was likely better to use the lower end of the band at that time, for best reception.
The *first* commercial UHF station on the air in the US (after the Bridgeport experiments) was a low Ch number; KPTV-27, Portland Oregon (Sept. 20 1952).

jr