Adjusting Rabbit Ears On Top Of ATV
| Field | Entertainment |
| Went Obsolete | 1990 |
| Made Obsolete By | Cable TV |
| Knowledge Assumed | Familiarity with a given setup |
| When useful|When receiving an OTA signal |
In the days of yore, when TVs? had Antenna jacks in the back, one would attach "rabbit ears" (or coat hangers, or wires) to the jacks and wave them around until the picture came in as clearly as possible, then try to get them to stay where they were set. This would change for each channel, with the weather, etc. Sometimes the only way to get a clear picture was to hang on to one or both of the rabbit ears, including oneself as part of the antenna, in which case how one was standing would matter.
Note that only the VHF antenna was actually shaped like rabbit ears; the UHF antenna was a loop (generally about 10"), but similar procedures applied.
However, this skill is making a comeback as over the air HDTV can be received with nothing more than a tv with an HDTV tuner and some good ol' rabbit ears.