Community TV-Antenna System
January 1953 Popular Mechanics

January 1953 Popular Mechanics

[Table of Contents] Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early mechanics and electronics. See articles from Popular Mechanics, published continuously since 1902. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.

Most of the television programming I have watched in my 65+ years has been received over the air from a broadcast tower to a rooftop antenna (or occasionally a set of rabbit ears). Rarely have I had to resort to cable. An antenna, rotator, and lead-in cable in today's dollars represents an investment of around $100-$150. Most TV these days is delivered via an Internet connection. I don't even know whether old-fashioned set-top cable boxes are used exclusively for television. In 1953, when this "Community TV-Antenna System" article appeared in a 1953 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine, TV broadcast stations had been fairly well established across the country, but were not as dense as today. Some locations which did not have a station within 50 miles or so had difficulty getting acceptable reception - especially if surrounded by hills or mountains. As color broadcasts became more prevalent, demand for high quality signals increased, and people were willing to pay dearly for it. Residents of Laconia, New Hampshire, shelled out $169 ($1,954 in 2023 money) for installation and then a monthly subscription fee of $3.95 ($45 in 2023). According to the U.S. Census, the average income in 1953 for non-urban areas was $3,200.

Community TV-Antenna System

Good TV reception in Laconia, N. H., from Boston stations nearly 100 miles away presented what looked like insurmountable difficulties. These, however, have been overcome by RCA engineers with their Antenaplex system. It consists of a master TV-antenna tower on top of Mt. Belknap, the antenna being tuned to bring in the clearest possible signal from each of the stations. Diagram D shows the antenna tower, the amplifying system at the base, the series of line amplifiers down the mountain and through the town, and finally the booster amplifiers where the lines are tapped for the home customers.

Photo B shows the coaxial cable coming over and down the mountain to Laconia which dips like a saucer in the surrounding mountains. Up to this time TV reception there had been very poor; now the signals are clear, and all tall roof-top antennas have been eliminated. Photo A shows the system being tapped to bring the signal into a home in Laconia. The tower amplifier station appears in photo C.

The set owners' subscription price is fixed at $169.00 for installation and there is a monthly charge of $3.95. The old tall-mast antenna arrays formerly used in the neighborhood cost between $75.00 and $175.00.

Posted December 19, 2023