THE WORLDWIDE TV-FM DX ASSOCIATION Serving the UHF-VHF Enthusiast
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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: TOM BRYANT, GREG CONIGLIO, BRUCE HALL, DAVE JANOWIAK AND MIKE BUGAJ. Editor and publisher: Mike Bugaj Treasurer: Dave Janowiak Webmaster: Tim McVey Editorial Staff: Steven Wiseblood, Victor Frank, George W. Jensen, Jeff Kruszka, Keith McGinnis, Fred Nordquist, Matt Sittel, Doug Smith, Thomas J. Yingling, Jr. and John Zondlo, Our website: www.anarc.org/wtfda ANARC Rep: Jim Thomas, Back Issues: Dave Nieman ELECTRONIC EDITION for DECEMBER 2003 _______________________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS Page Two 2 Mailbox 3 Finally! For those of you online with an email TV News…Doug Smith 5 address, we now offer a quick, convenient ATSC Primer Part iII…Doug Smith 12 and secure way to join or renew your Western TV DX…Victor Frank 12 membership in the WTFDA from our page at: Photo News…Jeff Kruszka 16 http://fmdx.usclargo.com/join.html Vacation or DxPedition?? …Bill Smith 18 Northern FM DX…Keith McGinnis 19 Dues are $25 if paid to our Paypal account. FM News…Steve Wiseblood 31 But of course you can always renew by check CCI Solutions…Bob Cooper 33 or money order for the usual price of just $24. Southern FM News…John Zondlo 39 Either way, it’s still a bargain! Cuban Television…Jesús Perez 41 Satellite News…George Jensen 42 The WTFDA TV It’s the Holiday 2003 issue of the VUD! In STATION GUIDE this issue we have a short article about DXing It’s the most (or trying to do some DXing) on Cape Cod comprehensive listing of brought to you by member Bill Smith. North American Bob Cooper wraps up part two of his Television stations in technical paper on minimizing CCI. This part print! Just $23 US will tells you how to stack antennas. get you one. Mail your Doug Smith continues with part three of check or money order his ATSC-101 course on digital television. today. Make it payable Oh yes, and if you EVER wanted a to Dave Janowiak and mail it to John Ebeling, calendar with pictures of antenna towers, do 9209 Vincent Avenue S., Bloomington, MN we have a calendar for you just in time for 55431-2157. Get your WTFDA TV Station 2004! Guide now before it goes out of print! Happy holiday reading! **ONLY TWELVE LEFT!** FM ATLAS #19 . Bruce Elving’s newest listing of FM Stations is just $23.00. Send your check or money order to FM Atlas, PO Box 336, Esko, MN 55733-9413 and keep it next to your radio or in the glove box of your car! Sportsradio! Jim Thomas tells you who’s on what station and when…basketball, football, baseball, hockey, racing…just about everything! Send your check for $12.00 to WTFDA, PO Box 501, Somersville, CT 06072 (checks payable to Dave Janowiak). P.O. Box 501, Somersville, CT USA 06072 MIKE BUGAJ [email protected] DECEMBER 2003 opening on a G.E. Super Radio with a cheap twin-lead folded dipole laying on my bed - First of all, we wish all of you a very catching an opening to Albuquerque, NM late happy and joyous holiday season. We May 1982, and I was hooked. Seeing CCI wouldn’t want it any other way. And may the bars on TV's channel 2-6 and weird ghosting year 2004 be good to you all! images behind the strong locals in the S.F. Well, what’s going on Bay Area was also thrilling, and then also with our sun, eh? The poor began an era of TV dxing, although I thing has been throwing fits generally partake in casual TV dxing to this lately with sunspots and day while waiting for the MUF to hit FM or just flares and CMEs being after an opening died away on FM - FM Es is ejected toward our planet. my first love, and I've had the opportunities to Now we read that the earth’s DX FM Es in some far-flung areas, such as magnetic field is supposedly in the first stages southern Georgia in the spring and summer of of a polarity shift. Does this mean more Es, 1990 - hearing Maine all the way to Colorado less Es or should we just wait for that ship to and lots of Mexican DX as far as Veracruz - land on the Washington Monument mall with an exciting place too for tropo! Tropo is Klatuu aboard. fabulous in Hawaii even though it would take Seriously though, the end of October a two-hop opening for any Dx from the saw some serious aurora on FM radio along mainland to occur, but I did get a chance with visible aurora through much of northern upon several long stays and a short residency North America. One strange occurance was in '86 that tropo between the Islands abounds possible F2 on channel A2 one afternoon by - Kauai FM signals being surprisingly at times Steven Wiseblood and Danny Oglethorpe. 300 miles away in on the Kona Coast of the The possibilities were narrowed down to Big Island of Hawaii. KHON 2 in Honolulu, although no definite ID In July 1997, I moved to the Owens was possible. But conditions like these just Valley of eastern California, and now live in show that strange receptions are possible the tiny hamlet of Keeler - a town of about 50 even in the off-season. And with our sun still people on the eastern edge of dry Owens acting strangely, more unusual happenings Lake - the famed lake that Los Angeles are bound to occur. drained dry. The FM dial could be considered "empty" by some standards - indeed only two MEMBERS AND MORE strong signals are on the band here from two 10 watt or less translators 6 miles distant on a Dues received this month from Jim mountain top and the rest of the semi-local Renfrew(NY), Jeff Kitsko(PA), John stations being shadowed by mountains to all Jefferson(WA), John Adams(OR), Chester 'round. But, while there is almost a total lack Jaffee(CA), George Hamer(NY), George of tropo, the main dxing fun besides VERY Greene(OH). Just a short list this time as evident Es openings are aero-scatter and opposed to the long lists in the summer, but meteor scatter, and finally but a big part - the quality of these folks more than offsets mountain or Knife-edge scatter - the high the quantity on this list. Thank you all for peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mtns. loom 20 - writing one more check! 30 miles distant, and I am amazed to find Here’s one interesting letter received hundreds of "hot spots" in the local area from Steve McGreevy in Keeler, CA. Try to favoring one transmitter site or another up find Keeler on a map. I dare you. Steve and down the Central Valley on the other side writes: “It's great to at long last be a member of the mountains - sometimes the stations in of WTFDA! I wonder why I didn't join the past Modesto are like having local translators. two decades, as I began FM sporatic-E-skip Airplanes skip in Bay area,, Sacramento, DXing the summer of 1982. Shel Remington, down to Tijuana BCN and Las Vegas stations KH6SR, then living in Fairfax, Calif. played regularly, and meteor showers are a joy - me tapes of his FM dx going back several especially the wild Leonids of 2001 - I think I years and I was astounded! I caught my first caught 4 station id's on 102.1 that special 3 night. seen Ch 2 Honolulu outside of the summer Es E-skip openings are pure fun here, and season. Meanwhile, strong Au on 6 meters to this past summer was pretty good considering usual eastern B.C., Alberta, eastern Wash. & I was away on family visitation and camping Montana w/ un-ID Au on clear ch 3 with TV trips for three weeks in June and July - I think VHF antenna pointed northeast.” This note the opening all across Mexico on July 9th was prompted Steve Wiseblood to post: “Based the most fun. Two years ago - the summer of on what DXers saw yesterday, and the strong 2001, it seemed north-east Texas came in reception of HAWAII on 6-meters by HAMS time and time again - including one day while throughout the SOUTH-EASTERN U.S. as I was driving in company Jeep Cherokee on well as Danny's (Shreveport) log of the Owens Lake that had a pretty sensitive "PEOPLE's COURT" at 1715 CST on Christler radio- Dallas Ft. Worth and the entire Channel-2. I reviewed my notes, and on region of east Texas were in so strongly and Chanel-2 at 1715 CST I did see large letters steadily that I called my boss on the VHF on the screen followed by several sets of radio and told him to put his radio on 97.9 smaller letters (perhaps on how to apply to be Dallas with rock music that he'd like - he on the show). totally enjoyed the DX reception, and noticed I am sure now, that the large letters that how jammed up the otherwise generally I saw did, in fact, say "PEOPLE's COURT". empty FM dial was. I know of other friends in Apparently because of the smearing and rural California who have noticed August to multiple phasing caused by the F2 reception, be a "bad-reception" time for them to hear I thought that I had seen something in 90.9 Klmath Falls 120 miles away because of Spanish or Portuguese, but the letters were bursts of other signals - I explained to them too smeared to actually read.