Where did Channel 1 go?

[Andrea]

Does anyone know why there isn't a channel 1 on American TV dials?
I've seen many different answers, but which is right?

 

[Don Pearce]

Does anyone know why there isn't a channel 1 on American TV dials?
I've seen many different answers, but which is right?

When they decided that it ought to go up to 11, the easiest way was to
drop the 1.

d
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

 

[Guy Macon]

Does anyone know why there isn't a channel 1 on American TV dials?
I've seen many different answers, but which is right?

Whenever you see different answers, goto the Straight Dope website.
Cecil Adams is always right,

Here is your answer: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_372

 

[Jim Thompson]

When they decided that it ought to go up to 11, the easiest way was to
drop the 1.

d
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

IIRC there was originally a Channel 1. In fact a quick Google
produces

http://members.aol.com/jeff560/tvch1.html

which outlines the history of Channel 1.

...Jim Thompson

 

[Rich Grise]

Whenever you see different answers, goto the Straight Dope website.
Cecil Adams is always right,

Here is your answer: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_372

That's the same answer I had, so he must be right. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Tam/WB2TT]

That's the same answer I had, so he must be right. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

I think the answer is mostly right. Notice they moved all the channels up,
with ch2 now staring at 54 MHz I suspect what happened was that when the sun
spots came around, they found that there was too much interference from
stations 1000s of miles away. They gave 50 - 54 MHz to the hams. BTW, my
best distance on 50 MHz is around 10,000 miles.

Tam

 

[Dave Holford]

Does anyone know why there isn't a channel 1 on American TV dials?
I've seen many different answers, but which is right?

Before political correctness there was superstition.

A senior FCC official did not like the idea of 13 channels and ordered
that one was to be deleted - in accordance with his directive ONE was
deleted.

Dave

 

[Rich Grise]

I think the answer is mostly right. Notice they moved all the channels up,
with ch2 now staring at 54 MHz I suspect what happened was that when the sun
spots came around, they found that there was too much interference from
stations 1000s of miles away. They gave 50 - 54 MHz to the hams. BTW, my
best distance on 50 MHz is around 10,000 miles.

I guess the cutoff freq. for skip isn't as sharp as they imply.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Guy Macon]

When they decided that it ought to go up to 11, the easiest way was to
drop the 1.

Incorrect. See http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_372

 

[Guy Macon]

Before political correctness there was superstition.

A senior FCC official did not like the idea of 13 channels and ordered
that one was to be deleted - in accordance with his directive ONE was
deleted.

Urban Myth. See http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_372

 

[James Meyer]

stations 1000s of miles away. They gave 50 - 54 MHz to the hams. BTW, my
best distance on 50 MHz is around 10,000 miles.

Tam

And then there's always moon bounce. Does the milage count for the
round trip?

Jim

 

[Tam/WB2TT]

I guess the cutoff freq. for skip isn't as sharp as they imply.

Cheers!
Rich

Yeah, you still get skip on the lower channels. When I lived in Toledo, I
once watched a whole movie on ch2 Chicago, even though there was a ch2 in
Detroit less than 50 miles away. Also picked up channel 3 from Cuba, and
another from someplace in Colorado, plus ch2 NYC.

The F layer skip on 50 MHz is very strong. Transcontinental signal will be
as loud as somebody 5 miles away. This happens during about two fall seasons
every 11 years. Last peak was around 1999.

Tam

Tam

 

[Tam/WB2TT]

And then there's always moon bounce. Does the milage count for the
round trip?

Jim

I think there is actually a rule covering that. The answer is no. Very hard
to make a 12000 mile contact, because the moon would be on the horizon at
both ends of the path.

Tam

 

[Dave Holford]

Urban Myth. See http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_372

Good grief, I hope this didn't get to be an urban myth that fast!

Dave

 

[Rich Grise]

Good grief, I hope this didn't get to be an urban myth that fast!

In buildings with no 13th floor, have you ever noticed if it takes
the same amount of time to go from 12 to 14 as, say, 11 to 12 or
14 to 15? On the elevator, of course. It'd be a little hard to hide
a whole floor from a stairwell. ;-)

:->

Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

Incorrect. See http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_372

I think he's making a joke, in reference to the movie, "This is Spinal
Tap". Their amps went up to 11, so they'd be 1.1 times louder than
everybody else. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Tim Shoppa]

That's the same answer I had, so he must be right. ;-)

About Green Acres? No way! Green Acre raised self-parody to a perplexing
and surreal level.

Tim.

 

[Rich Grise]

About Green Acres? No way! Green Acre raised self-parody to a perplexing
and surreal level.

No, about channel 1. Wasn't Green Acres in another thread? About the only
thing I remember about it was the three naked girls bathing in the water
tower. And ZszZsa, of course. I wonder if working with her was what made
Eddie Albert go prematurely senile.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Guy Macon]

No, about channel 1. Wasn't Green Acres in another thread? About the only
thing I remember about it was the three naked girls bathing in the water
tower. And ZszZsa, of course. I wonder if working with her was what made
Eddie Albert go prematurely senile.

Not Zsa Zsa. There were three Gabor sisters, Zsa Zsa, Eva and Magda.
Eva played on _Green Acres_.

 

[Rich Grise]

Not Zsa Zsa. There were three Gabor sisters, Zsa Zsa, Eva and Magda. Eva
played on _Green Acres_.

Speaking of ZsaZsa, Jane Fonda brought up that "pet my cat" story to
Johnny Carson himself, right there on the show. He claimed he had no
recollection of ever saying such a thing.

For those of you who just arrived from Neptune, the legend goes: ZsaZsa
was sitting on the guest couch, with a cat in her lap. She asks, "Would
you like to pet my pussy?" and Carson replies, "Sure, but you'll have to
move the cat first."

I wonder if anybody _really_ knows. A tape would be perfect. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich