I miss DX'ing TV stations

[Mr Tony]

I missed picking up distant stations when I lived in my apartment and when I lived in Duluth
(being 2 miles from the towers will kill DX)

This past weekend at the lake house (home) with the simple 8 bay and amp mounted on the deck I picked up Minneapolis (which is 90 miles away). I would normally be like "eh" but the fact I was getting the 15,000 Watt LOW POWERED stations is what I thought was cool.

Also grabbed KAAL 6 from Albert Lea (southern MN) and KIMT Mason CIty, IA which are probably 150 miles away (whats crazy is there is a RF42 that is closer and KIMT "beat it up"

 

[Trip]

Awesome reception!

I know that people near the Atlantic, the Gulf, and the Great Lakes get great water path tropo from time to time. With all the lakes in Minnesota, does the same thing happen there? Or is it too broken up with land to have the same kind of effect?

- Trip

 

[Kelly126]

OH Man I miss the days of getting KCBS station Channel 8 and channel 10 for while they show A-team and Simon and simon in early 1990s on those channels

For while I getting KVCR 24 where they show old school dragnet from 1950s in show I remember television

 

[primestar31]

It's big time tropo out there lately. Even the freighters on the lake are giving illusions that they are floating in the sky, and people can see Chicago skyscrapers from the West side of Michigan right now.

http://www.mlive.com/weather/index.ssf/2015/04/keep_your_eyes_open_for_amazin.html

http://www.mlive.com/weather/index....crapers_and_flyin.html#incart_related_stories

Years ago when I lived in Bridgeport Michigan, I received a Florida station for a couple hours. During that same time period, it was easy to pick up stations in Pennsylvania, (right through Canada) like they were right next door. 55 foot tower at the time, Xg91 antenna, rotator, and Winegard 30db gain, 1db noise super amplifier.

 

[teachsac]

Wish I could move my antenna out of my attic to get SF stations. I get all of my locals, though.

S~

 

[larrykenney]

I know what you mean, Iceberg. From the time I was a kid in New Hampshire, while I was in college, and then when I worked in Chicago, I had lots of fun chasing distant stations. During the summer I used to spend hours searching the channels for distant stations. I'd drive out of the city and set up an antenna out in the boonies and see what I could get. Then I moved to California in 1979. Out here on the west coast DXing is almost non-existant. I have decent antennas here that receive stations within a 65 mile radius, but that's about the limit. I've only received two stations of any distance here, one from Chico, CA that is about 155 miles and another from Red Bluff, CA at about 175 miles. That's not much of a record for 36 years.

 

[spongella]

Nice catches Iceberg. Thanks for the inspiration, it's time to check out TV DX at this QTH. My experience here is that when there is early AM ground fog in the Amwell Valley (see pic) then it's time to rotate the TV antenna in different directions and scan for new digital channels. Here TVDX is most prevalent around 6am - 8am, I term it "rush hour" DX. Most times propagation favors due West into the Lancaster/York PA area or South West into the DelMarVa (Delaware/Maryland/Virginia) peninsula.

There was a little DX this morning, very weak. Found this pixielated channel 33.1, MeTV, on low band, 63 Mhz which have never seen. Cannot make a positive ID so cannot say for sure it is DX, but it was fading in and out. When signals are strong enough, the television's software will identify the channel, but this one was too weak. Using the TV's signal diagnostics sometimes helps as it shows the frequency and signal strength.

 

[FTA4PA]

There was a little DX this morning, very weak. Found this pixielated channel 33.1, MeTV, on low band, 63 Mhz which have never seen. Cannot make a positive ID so cannot say for sure it is DX, but it was fading in and out. When signals are strong enough, the television's software will identify the channel, but this one was too weak. Using the TV's signal diagnostics sometimes helps as it shows the frequency and signal strength.

Looks like this one as they have been ordered by FCC to move from 3.10 to 33.1: http://wjlp3.com/ Don't know how far that is away from you. I miss the old analog days. Many years back we had a Radio Shack VU190-XR. Here in Central PA our 'market' is Wilkes-Barre/Scranton but I remember getting stations from Harrisburg, Philadelphia, etc from Pennsylvania as well as stations from Delaware, New Jersey, New York among others. Love the clarity of digital but it comes at a cost. At our present location, with digital we don't even get all of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton stations anymore.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Ahh I wondered what was up. This morning I picked up WNNE from Hartford, VT which is 121.9 miles away and WFTY from Smithtown NY which is 56 miles away.

I never picked them up before. Below is a live look at what I am receiving now.

http://www.rabbitears.info/tvdx/one_tuner_map/1041B33B/tuner0

 

[spongella]

Yep, digital TV DX is a lot shorter than with analog. My best DX was in the early 80's, got a TV station from Iowa while living in Eastern PA, and Florida stations used to come in too during openings. When TV DX is seen, 6 and 2 meters might be open too. Probably could check the NOAA wx stations on 162.4 - 162.55 for distant stations. Also check for night DX when days are warm and nights are cool such as in early spring.

Good hunting to all. Nice catches, guys!

 

[jegrant]

I'm gonna have to give it a shot. I pulled in several Chicago stations this past winter (WGN 9 CW, etc). Need to set up the good old Zenith DTA because it does have very good reception.

 

[ejb1980]

I briefly got a Cuban channel OTA on Ch 2 or 3 last year when I lived in NC.

 

[Mr Tony]

I'm gonna have to give it a shot. I pulled in several Chicago stations this past winter (WGN 9 CW, etc). Need to set up the good old Zenith DTA because it does have very good reception.

Thats what I was using
Zenith converter box

 

[FTA4PA]

I'm gonna have to give it a shot. I pulled in several Chicago stations this past winter (WGN 9 CW, etc). Need to set up the good old Zenith DTA because it does have very good reception.

Thats what I was using
Zenith converter box

Which Zenith model are you guys using? Sounds like you are pretty happy with them and I never did replace that Homeworx box yet that is having issues.

 

[Mr Tony]

I've been out of town for a few days so I wasnt able to respond sooner

Awesome reception!

Thanks

I know that people near the Atlantic, the Gulf, and the Great Lakes get great water path tropo from time to time. With all the lakes in Minnesota, does the same thing happen there? Or is it too broken up with land to have the same kind of effect?

- Trip

nah. Too broken up. Most of the lakes in Minnesota are real small. Where I am (Mille Lacs) is a huge lake. If you ever google the map of Minnesota, you'll usually see 3 lakes that show up. Red Lake (upper and lower), Leech and Mille Lacs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mille_Lacs_Lake

What helped me is I am on the far North end of the lake so the signal has to travel approximately 20 miles across the lake so I'm sure the water helped there. Thats why most folks back in the analog day (and to this day you still see them) is a huge VHF antenna aimed South towards Minneapolis for 2,4,5,9,11 which were the Big 4 and PBS). They may also have a VHF aimed NW as channel 12 (KCCW) was REAL easy to pick up. As you know its just a satellite of WCCO CBS in the citites
Depending on setup you'll see 1 UHF aimed west or NW which there use to be translators of the Duluth stations about 20 miles away years ago (and the local PBS was/is on UHF). Some places you'll see 2 or even 3 UHF antennas aimed at different directions. One of these days I'll take my camera out and snap some tower pics of antennas. My neighbor has a 70 or 80 foot tower and a huge Yagi UHF and a monster VHF on a rotor. I laugh when I see which way its aimed. Straight west its either PBS or FOX. NW its CBS

I guess back to the question being right on Mille Lacs probably does help. But in this case the "higher is better" theory works. If I climb on the roof with the antenna and try they come in real stable at night but I lose them during the day. This is probably 20-25 feet higher than where it is now (on the deck)

 

[Mr Tony]

Which Zenith model are you guys using? Sounds like you are pretty happy with them and I never did replace that Homeworx box yet that is having issues.

DTT901
When they came out they were the "upgrade" of the converter boxes. I think they were like $10 with the $40 coupons that you could get
But now they are a DX'ers dream receiver because of the sensitive tuner. They are hard to come by because most DX'ers scoop them up

 

[FTA4PA]

DTT901
When they came out they were the "upgrade" of the converter boxes. I think they were like $10 with the $40 coupons that you could get
But now they are a DX'ers dream receiver because of the sensitive tuner. They are hard to come by because most DX'ers scoop them up

Thanks Iceberg! I'll keep an eye out for one.

 

[Radioguy41]

Make sure it's a DTT901 and not a DTT900. The 900's were prone to an audio problem. I have 3 of the DTT901's.

 

[ynnedibanez]

is the DTT901 considerably more sensitive than the Homeworx?

 

[larrykenney]

The Insignia converter box that Best Buy sold has the same innerds as the DTT901. It has the same great sensitivity and works the same way where you can specifiy stations your want to receive manually without scanning. I have one that I bought with a coupon 6 years ago and it's still working fine.