The Magazine for TV and FM DXers July 2015 XHCH-2 Chihuahua, CHH received June 26 via Es in Shreveport, LA Picture Courtesy: Danny Oglethorpe LAST CALL FOR MEXICO'S LOW BAND TV STATIONS! E-SKIP PICKS UP IN MID-JUNE (BULLETIN BOARD IS 37 PAGES) DXERS REPORT MULTI-HOP AND SHORT-HOP AROUND 108 MHz The Official Publication of the Worldwide TV-FM DX Association METEOR SHOWERS INSIDE THIS VUD CLICK TO NAVIGATE Alpha Capricornids 02 Page Two 23 Southern FM DX JUL 11 – AUG 10 04 FM News 25 Northern FM DX 13 Photo News 34 DX Bulletin Board Perseids 16 Coast to Coast TV DX JUL 13 – AUG 26 THE WORLDWIDE TV-FM DX ASSOCIATION Serving the UHF-VHF Enthusiast THE VHF-UHF DIGEST IS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE WORLDWIDE TV-FM DX ASSOCIATION DEDICATED TO THE OBSERVATION AND STUDY OF THE PROPAGATION OF LONG DISTANCE TELEVISION AND FM BROADCASTING SIGNALS AT VHF AND UHF. WTFDA IS GOVERNED BY A BOARD OF DIRECTORS: DOUG SMITH, GREG CONIGLIO, KEITH McGINNIS AND MIKE BUGAJ. Editor and publisher: Ryan Grabow Treasurer: Keith McGinnis wtfda.org Webmaster: Tim McVey Forum Site Administrator: Chris Cervantez Editorial Staff: Jeff Kruszka, Keith McGinnis, Fred Nordquist, Nick Langan, Doug Smith, Bill Hale, John Zondlo and Mike Bugaj Website: www.wtfda.org; Forums: http://forums.wtfda.org PAGE TWO The Page You Turn To for News of the WTFDA and the TV/FM DX World Mike Bugaj – [email protected] July 2015 SEEING RED ever encountered double hop FM DX up at 108mhz? I don’t think so. I’d suggest taking a peek at the loggings posted on the WTFDA Bulletin Board (http://wtfdadxbb.vci.net) to catch even more double hop FM DX loggings and one great TVDX logging by Andrew Knafel in Ohio of Guatemala on TV ch3, which is simply amazing. So what is going on here? The answer may be a combination of exceptional propagation, better equipment and communication between DXers. Whatever it is, I hope it continues. After a very slow start to the 2015 skip season, Es MEMBERS AND MORE exploded after the middle of June and literally left some FM Dxers seeing red. The red I’m talking about is This month we welcome in two new WTFDA XHRED 88.1 in Mexico City. I’ve seen at least two members, Paul Snider in ON and Brett Saylor in PA. loggings of this station, one by Jim Renfrew near Welcome, guys! Rochester, NY and the other by a DXer in New Jersey. During the period from May 31st through June 25th And Red FM wasn’t the only station from Mexico City we received renewals from Mike Hunter (NJ), Mike making its way through the airwaves to the northeastern Lazaro (NY), Randy Zerr (FL), David Austin (SC), John US. I’ve never seen so much Mexican double hop Johnson (AZ), Fred Laun (MD), Gray Fulk (NC), Al Tobia reported before…stations around or over 2,000 miles (CA), Stephen Ponder (TX), Tim McVey (VA and Jeff away. Kruszka (TX). Thank you all for your support of the One log that to me is completely mind-boggling is WTFDA! that of HJVC 93.9 in Bogota, Colombia heard (and RDS Ryan Grabow sent along this note: “There was captured) by Fred Nordquist in SC. Who would have excellent e-skip from here to Ohio/Pennsylvania this ever thought any of us in North America would DX an afternoon (the 20th). MUF to the top of FM for at least FM station that deep into South America, not me for three hours. I eventually started posting my IDs live to sure. the Facebook group and Andrew Knafel in Ohio joined And speaking again of Mexico City, we have Steve in. We were posting each others’ locals! I thought it Walko’s logging of XEQR 107.3 from PA. Has anyone JULY 2015 ··· 2 ··· PAGE TWO would be good to mention. It’s a fun way to use our Facebook group and I’ll start doing it regularly. I need to go through the recordings, but it looks like I broke my short-hop record with 107.9 in Charlotte NC with HD lock. But shouldn’t shorter hops be on lower frequencies? I figured the MUF was still shooting up and started monitoring TV channels 7,8 and 9. Nothing there, though.” CRASH June 23rd was not a good day for Lee Molineux or for the town of Brookhaven, PA. June 23rd was the day that his Antennacraft C490 TV antenna and two Antennacraft FM6s were destroyed when high winds broke a limb off a neighbor’s tree, sending it slamming into a shed in his backyard. Unfortunately the antennas were on top of that shed. This is photo from Lee’s Facebook page showing the damage to the antennas. This event was similar to one I experienced this past spring when high winds pulled the lag bolts out of one leg of the tripod supporting my TV antennas on my roof, leaving them hanging precariously over the edge of my garage. Fortunately for me, though, neither antenna was damaged and I was able to remove them two days later. The antennas were completely totaled. A tripod supporting an APS13 was partially ripped off the roof of the shed but the FM antenna survived. A line of servere thunderstorms was moving through the area at the time and there is the possibility that this damage was tornado related. TV & FM DXING The Facebook Group of the WTFDA. Over 250 subscribers. http://www.facebook.com/groups/wtfda JULY 2015 ··· 3 ··· PAGE TWO FM NEWS for CANADA and USA July 2015 BILL HALE [email protected] INDEX OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN FM NEWS APP: application $: Stereo APP Mod: Change to an already submitted application SS: Spanish language Class: FM license class STA: Special Temporary Authorization CoL: City-of-License XL: Transmitter Location change to CP: construction permit (authority to broadcast with > : change to [in formats} facilities noted) < : an increase to [in technical data] CP Mod: change to an already granted CP > : a decrease to [in technical data] DA: directional antenna [ ]: Calls in brackets signifies assumed or applied-for EE: English language status FF: French language Note: antenna heights are HAAT except where noted —— CANADA —— — CALL LETTER ACTIONS — Old Call New Call BC Fort Nelson 96.1 CP CFNR-FM2 NS Sydney 107.3 CP CJBU-FM — FORMAT and SLOGAN CHANGES — AB High River 100.9 CKUV-FM > Hot AC: The Eagle BC Vancouver 102.7 CKPK-FM > Alternative Rock: The Peak NB Fredericton 92.3 CFRK-FM > Country: Country 92.3 ON Barrie 93.1 CHAY-FM > Hot AC: Fresh Radio — TECHNICAL CHANGES — GRANTS FOR NEW STATIONS CP granted for: BC Kelowna 95.3 CHLL-FM 50 W-V/(-) 274 m, 49-53-07/119-22-09; Class LP; Mono [will be a Tourist Information station] BC Peachland 92.1 CHLL-FM1 50 W/(-) 147 m, 49-42-34/119-45-09; Class LP; $ [will be a Tourist Information station] JULY 2015 ··· 4 ··· FM NEWS GRANTS TO EXISTING STATIONS CP granted for: AB Rocky Mountain House 94.5 CHBW-FM < 810 W/> 66 m, XL to 52-19-58/114-54-11; Class A; $ BC Surrey 107.7 CP > 2 kW/< 159 m DA, XL to 49-11-02/122-50-41; Class A; $ [newly granted changes to the parameters of this yet-to-be-built station] ON Toronto 95.9 CJKX-FM2 > 1 kW-V/312 m DA, 43-38-56/79-22-54; Class A; $ [remains a rebroadcaster for CJKX-FM 95.9 Ajax] SK Kindersley 104.9 CKVX-FM < 66 kW-V//< 100 kW-H/< 341 m, XL to 51-40-46/108-41-27; (to) Class C; $ APPLICATIONS FROM EXISTING/PROPOSED FACILITIES Applies for: ON Meaford 99.3 CJGB-FM < 2.875 kW/> 171 m (to) DA, 44-34-07/80-32-03; (to) Class B1; $ ON Toronto 95.9 CJKX-FM2 < 1 kW (adds H)/312 m DA, 43-38-56/79-22-54; (to) Class B1; $ — DENIALS AND DISMISSALS — Various [See NEWS ITEM below] BC Mount Bruce 102.1 CFSI-FM1 License revoked BC Salt Spring Island 107.9 CFSI-FM License revoved — OTHERNEWS — QC Alma 95.7 CKYK-FM The CRTC has approved CKYK-FM’s request to amend their licence to allow it to devote more than 50% of the broadcast week to spoken word programming for the purpose of broadcasting Montréal Canadiens and Chicoutimi Saguenéens hockey games during any broadcast week where it owns the broadcast rights for these games. [also affects CKYK-FM1 96.3 Alma] QC Victoriaville 103.5 CKYQ-FM1 Will go silent in this summer due to common ownership policy associated with ownership change approval between Radio Megantic and Attraction Media NEWS ITEMS: ! June 25, 2015 – Ottawa–Gatineau — The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued a decision today to help improve radio service for urban Aboriginal listeners. The CRTC revokes the broadcasting licences of Aboriginal Voices Radio (AVR), which operated stations in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa under radio call sign CKAV. AVR has held these licences since the early 2000s. Since then, at each renewal, the CRTC has found numerous, repeated and serious instances of non-compliance with several sections of the Radio Regulations and with conditions of licence. These non-compliances have accumulated over the years, despite the CRTC’s flexibility and measures taken. For example, several short-term licence renewals were granted to give AVR the opportunity to rectify the situation. Furthermore, it is clear that over the years, AVR has not honoured its commitments as set out in its original applications and, as a result, has not fulfilled its mandate to reflect the distinctive place of the Aboriginal community in Canadian society.