Ed Phelps Logs His 1,000 DTV Station Using Just Himself and His DTV Box. No Autologger Needed
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The Magazine for TV and FM DXers October 2020 The Official Publication of the Worldwide TV-FM DX Association Being in the right place at just the right time… WKMJ RF 34 Ed Phelps logs his 1,000th DTV Station using just himself and his DTV Box. No autologger needed. THE VHF-UHF DIGEST The Worldwide TV-FM DX Association Serving the TV, FM, 30-50mhz Utility and Weather Radio DXer since 1968 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, SAUL CHERNOS, KEITH MCGINNIS, JAMES THOMAS AND MIKE BUGAJ Treasurer: Keith McGinnis wtfda.org/info Webmaster: Tim McVey Forum Site Administrator: Chris Cervantez Creative Director: Saul Chernos Editorial Staff: Jeff Kruszka, Keith McGinnis, Fred Nordquist, Nick Langan, Doug Smith, John Zondlo and Mike Bugaj The WTFDA Board of Directors Doug Smith Saul Chernos James Thomas Keith McGinnis Mike Bugaj [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Renewals by mail: Send to WTFDA, P.O. Box 501, Somersville, CT 06072. Check or MO for $10 payable to WTFDA. Renewals by Paypal: Send your dues ($10USD) from the Paypal website to [email protected] or go to https://www.paypal.me/WTFDA and type 10.00 or 20.00 for two years in the box. Our WTFDA.org website webmaster is Tim McVey, [email protected]. Our WTFDA Forums webmaster is Chris Cervantez, [email protected]. Fred Nordquist is in charge of club statistics at [email protected] Our email reflector is on Googlegroups. To join, send an email to [email protected] Visit our club website at http://www.wtfda.org . Participate in our forums at http://forums.wtfda.org. Our real-time (prop logger) bulletin board is located at http://wtfdadxbb.vci.net. Only WTFDA members can participate. You can find WTFDA on Facebook. Our group is called TV and FM Dxing. This is a public group. We also have a private group called WTFDA just for WTFDA Members. The WTFDA FM Database is administered and updated by your fellow WTFDA members. It is completely free to use and can serve up to 500 users a day during the spring, summer and fall. THE DATABASE CREW Bill Hale Mike Bugaj Jim Thomas Fred Nordquist Nick Langan VHF-UHF Digest 2 October 2020 DUES RECEIVED HAPPY 3000th LOGGED DATE NAME S/P EXP Also congratulations go out to John Zondlo on his 9/1/2020 David Lang CT 8/21 lifetime achievement of logging his 3,000 FM station 9/8/2020 Stephen Kellat OH 10/21 from his home in Yukon, OK. It only took him 41 9/11/2020 William Mitchell OH 10/24 9/11/2020 Ron Cesarek FL 10/21 years to do it but when you’re married and working, 9/20/2020 Mike Bugaj CT 9/21 you just don’t have the time to devote to a hobby as 9/24/2020 John Lentz WI 11/22 someone does who has lots of time on their hands. 9/24/2020 Pete Giacopelli NY 1/23 VUD READER SURVEY This month we welcome Stephen Kellat to the Think about the following pages or columns: WTFDA. Stephen holds the call KC8BFI and he’s into ham radio, DTV and FM DXing. Welcome Stephen! VUD Cover And thank you to all of you who renewed this month Mailbox TV News for your support of the WTFDA. FM News Facilities Page Northern FM News Southern FM News #1000 Photo News TV News Congratulations go out to Mr Ed Phelps, who has ***** become the first TV Dxer in the world to log one What column(s) are you most interested in ? What column(s) are you least interested in? thousand DTV stations. Ed lives in Benton, Kentucky, What would you like to see more of in the VUD? which seems to be the thunderstorm capital of the What would you like to see less of in the VUD? world. If Ed isn’t DXing and posting on the WTFDA I get my DX information mostly from online sources Y/N logger, then he is disconnecting his antennas and I get my DX information mostly from the VUD Y/N hiding under a desk somewhere in his house waiting From a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being the most) how for a storm to pass by. important is the VUD to you in your pursuit of DX? Will anyone or anything ever duplicate Ed’s feat? His only real competition will probably come from If there were no VUD, only our online offerings (the Forums, WTFDA Website, WTFDA Logger and Loggermap, FM the autologger in Milford, Illinois (see last month’s Database) would you stay a WTFDA member? VUD). But that’s a machine, not a human. And Ed did Please reply ASAP to any Bod member. See page two for it all by himself with his clunky old DTV box. names and email addresses. Your input and comments are most welcome. VHF-UHF Digest 3 October 2020 Internet: Old TV caused village broadband outages for 18 months 22 September 2020 (BBC News) Switching off the problem television fixed the issue for Aberhosan villagers, Openreach says The mystery of why an entire village lost its broadband every morning at 7am was solved when engineers discovered an old television was to blame. An unnamed householder in Aberhosan, Powys, was unaware the old set would emit a signal which would interfere with the entire village's broadband. After 18 months engineers began an investigation after a cable replacement programme failed to fix the issue.The embarrassed householder promised not to use the television again. The village now has a stable broadband signal. Openreach engineers were baffled by the continuous problem and it wasn't until they used a monitoring device that they found the fault. The householder would switch their TV set on at 7am every morning - and electrical interference emitted by their second-hand television was affecting the broadband signal. The owner, who does not want to be identified, was "mortified" to find out their old TV was causing the problem, according to Openreach. "They immediately agreed to switch it off and not use it again," said engineer Michael Jones. Engineers walked around the village with a monitor called a spectrum analyser to try to find any "electrical noise" to help pinpoint the problem. "At 7am, like clockwork, it happened," said Mr Jones. "Our device picked Continues on Page 46 VHF-UHF Digest 4 October 2020 TV News – October 2020 Douglas E. Smith Nashville, TN [email protected] http://www.w9wi.com Location RF Ch Callsign Notes Alabama Dothan 20 WJJN-LD Moved from 49. Gulf Shores 27 WFNA To ATSC 3.0. Mobile 12 WMOE-LD License canceled Sept. 21st. Mobile 15 WPMI To be carried in ATSC 3.0 on WJTC Pensacola, Fla. Mobile 18 WMPV-TV Returned to the air Sept. 19th. Mobile 20 WKRG-TV To be carried in ATSC 3.0 on WFNA Gulf Shores. Moody 38 WBMG-LD License canceled Sept. 21st. Tuscaloosa 21 W21DM License canceled Sept. 21st. Tuscaloosa 29 W29DT License canceled Sept. 21st. Alaska Alyeska 4 K04GP OFF Sept. 30th. Station relays KTVA Anchorage which went dark on Sept. 3rd after sale. However, there’s no staff available to travel to the translator site to turn it off… Anchorage 28 KTVA OFF Sept. 3rd. Station sold, and CBS affiliation went to KYES- 5. KTVA told the FCC the main transmitter was off on the 3rd, but RabbitEars.info reports it’s still on transmitting “nothingness”. Homer 11 K11VP See K04GP Alyeska. Juneau 24 KXLJ-LD OFF Sept. 18th, same reason as KTVA Anchorage. (but no zombie translators {grin}) Juneau 26 KYEX-LD Calls changed from KYES-LD. Kasilof 29 K29KH See K04GP Alyeska. Kenai 8 K08LW See K04GP Alyeska. Ninilchik 15 K15AG See K04GP Alyeska. Palmer 50 K50MO See K04GP Alyeska. Arizona Prescott 47 KDFQ-LP License canceled Sept. 21st. Salome 16 K16NM Permit granted for new LPTV, 1.5kw/10m, 33-35-26/113-28-18 (Landover 2 LLC) Shonto 23 K23PL Moved from K38CX, 2kw/46m, 36-37-10/110-34-53. Arkansas Forest City (sic) 10 NEW-756256 Requests STA 17.5kw/139m, 35-02-57/90-47-04; see text. Gaither 11 NEW-756257 Requests STA 850w/323m, 36-10-09/93-14-59; see text. Mena 8 NEW-756258 Requests STA 3kw/383m, 34-41-26/93-56-35; see text. Russellville 11 NEW-756266 Requests STA 3kw/150m, 35-26-18/93-09-41; see text. Yancy 8 NEW-756251 Requests STA 12kw/116m, 33-51-11/93-48-35; see text. California Calexico 8 K08QK Requests power to 300 watts/50m, 32-42-00/115-30-02; amendment to prevent interference to K07ZF. Cherry Valley 8 KILA-LD Requests power to 600 watts/748m, 33-47-57/117-37-24; granted. VHF-UHF Digest 5 October 2020 Location RF Ch Callsign Notes Chico 19 K19FY Requests conversion to digital, 2kw/3m, 39-45-04/121-45-32; granted & converted. Chico 20 KNVN Moved from 24, 300kw/567m. Clovis 27 KNSO Calls changed from KGMC. Desert Center 14 K14SO Permit granted for new LPTV, 1kw/190m, 33-39-18/115-59-08 (Landover 2 LLC) Fresno 28 KFSN-TV Requests STA to share on the KMPH-TV Visalia transmitter when necessary due to power cuts resulting from nearby wildfires.