AUGUST 2014 The Magazine for TV and FM DXers Verification letter sent from ZGBC in Dominica to Ivan Diaz in Brazil SLOW E-SKIP SEASON GETS SLOWER IN JULY DIGITAL TV COMING TO CUBA, BUT WILL NOT USE CHANNELS 2-6 wtfda.org 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 _______________________________________________________________________________________ AUGUST 2014 THE END OF E-SKIP? gone now but a couple of us are still around. Our family TV was set up in the garage. The tuner was well used Here we are heading into August and as I write this but survived the weekend. The CE of WFBM-TV (now and look at map at DXMaps, I see plenty going on in WRTV) visited us, then invited everyone to a tour of the Europe but not much going on here. But that’s the way it studios downtown.” And now you know the rest of the goes in late July. Skip tapers off and hopefully gets story. replaced by tropo and I’ve already seen some good reports of it in the Midwest. LIKES THE FM DATABASE Did you have a good Es season? If you live in Ontario, you probably did. And if you had the time to stay We received an email from a user of the WTFDA FM by your receiver all day you probably did. I had very little Station Database that read “Thank you so much for time to do any DXing this summer and missed at least putting the FM database together! Ever since two big openings. If you want time to DX, don’t ever 100000watts.com became so expensive a few years retire because when you do retire, you won’t have any. ago, finding a good database to reference has become a challenge. This looks like a great setup.” –ds. I thanked MEMBERS AND MORE the user for his kind words and he now has become a source for some good info in his part of the country. This month we welcome Dr.Carter Bays to the club. Our database has been up just over a year now and Carter lives Colulmbia, SC. His main interests are covers not only the US and Canada, but Mexico, Cuba analog and DTV DXing and uses an Antennas Direct and the Cayman Islands. We’ve had about 15,000 visits XG91 (which is what I also use) along with an Insignia to the site with around 2,000 being return visits. converter box. Renewals were received this month from Jeff THE CUBAN ANALOG SHUTDOWN Kruszka, Fred Laun, John Adams, David Austin, Gray Fulk, Tim McVey, Gary Siegel, Dave Bright, Al Tobia, Here’s the latest information on the shutdown of Duane Whittingham, Eric Sundius, Stan Weisbeck, John Cuban analog TV. It was supplied by Bill Hepburn on the Marx, David Sinclair, Mike Lazaro, David Braun, Bob WTFDA bulletin board and “Raymie” on the WTFDA Rush, Doug McAbee, Jim Thomas and Rob Ross. Thank Forums. you all for your support of the WTFDA! Cuba? Digital television? Why yes! Gary Siegel writes “Enclosed is a $10 money order to continue membership in the club via the e-zine You might recall that Cuba is using the Chinese computer means. Not sure how well this will work for me DTMB standard, but there was still a lot we didn't know. but I get where things have gone. Will certainly miss the Channel spacing and allotments, whether Cuba actually VUD in printed form. I actually miss it already. What with had DTV on the air and other matters were all unknown. no skip this season (it basically gone from TV) – not Well, I hit the jackpot between the ICRT site and that missing much, I guess. Will want to stay in touch with of state organism LACETEL, the self-described "Institute other DXers.” for Telecommunications Research and Development". Here's what we now know, both about DTV and changes INTERESTING PICTURE to Cuban broadcast services: If you have ever been to the WTFDA website (the • Cuban DTMB will be using NTSC channels in wtfda.org website) you may have come across a photo high VHF (7-13) and UHF (14-51) as outlined in of dxers at the 1957 AIPA convention. A man by the the standards (which are in English!). All name of Larry Vehorn saw the picture and wrote “The currently assigned transmitters are on UHF. A photo was taken in front of our garage. I hosted the ’57 list of these transmitters is available; only two AIPA Convention in Indianapolis. I had the “welcome” are set up for HD at this time. sign painted locally and handed it to Carl Lupton who • And to receive these signals via tropo you'll hosted the ’58 convention. Most guys in the photo are need a converter box. Pretty much all of the AUGUST 2014 ··· 2 ··· THE MAILBOX available equipment is being made by Chinese Introducing the new 1TB model DVR+ from Channel firms. I have no idea how someone in the US Master. Pause live TV, skip, fast-forward, rewind and would go about procuring one legally. record / store 160 hours of your favorite shows with the • The DTV service includes three new state 1TB model DVR+'s internal 1-Terabyte hard drive. The channels: Cubavisión Internacional, Canal new 1TB model DVR+ eliminates the need to attach an Infantil (kids' shows) and Canal Clave (music), external USB hard drive for full DVR functionality. as well as weather and data broadcasts and six radio streams. Canal Clave does, however, Available today from Channel Master and Best Buy, the mean the end of the music channel that's taken new 1TB model DVR+ provides all of the same features over CE in past summers. and functionality as the 16GB model DVR+, including • Speaking of which, Canal Educativo 2 now dual tuners for watching one program while recording simulcasts Telesur 20 out of 24 hours a day another, and access to streaming services and an (airing its own shows only from 4:30 to 8:30 pm). enhanced 14-day channel guide with an Internet connection absolutely subscription-free. No contracts, RADIOSEARCHENGINE.COM no fees, no obligations. Tired of missing your favorite programs when youre Thanks to Jim Thomas, here is an email received not at home? Ready to free yourself from those pesky from Michael Robertson of the RadioSearchEngine site:. VCR tapes? The DVR+ from Channel Master is your I was referred to you by Jim Thomas who suggested answer for a better antenna TV viewing experience I make contact with you and alert you to our services which may be of interest to WTFDA. And of course we are not endorsing any product We offer a search engine which tracks radio stations mentioned in this column. They are mentioned here for in real-time for what song they're playing. We have data informational purposes only. on most stations. This is a free service available at radiosearchengine.com. The DAR.fm (http://dar.fm) services lets people record radio stations from around the globe. We have about 40,000 stations in our system. Users can record one station for free or up to five for $40 per year. Jim says he finds these services useful to identify stations he's getting over the air because he can search for the song or compare the recording. I hope you'll invite your members to check them out. Also, I made a coupon code for dar.fm available for WTFDA members. They can get 10% off any subscription tier by using the coupon code: DAR10off during the check out process. VIZIO IS YOUR PAL Here is an email from Cal Glover on the beach in NC: “Another update on my new Vizio HDTV and its PERSEUS FOR SALE! many hidden talents. My SCART connector finally got here from China, and I hooked it up to give me an extra Bill Nollman put this ad on our email lists (and other composite video and audio outputs. When I hooked up places). Since many of you also do some AM DXing in the TV and vintage multi-system VCR with RCA cables, I the winter, you might be interested… found that it not only displayed beautiful PAL (European PAL!) pictures, but it also displays fine-looking SECAM Bought 5 years ago and used often but not a lot. Non- (both French and MESECAM). So it looks like the “world smoking house. The unit itself is in near mint condition. chip” still lives in the video sections of these sets. An Includes SDR, box, US power supply, USB cable and added bonus—thanks to the set’s 120 Hz refresh rate, home made dual end Y cable for running from laptop the traditional 50 Hz Euro-flicker is gone. power. Paid $1200, now selling for $999, asking $850. Even though VCRs output relatively grotty SD I’d prefer to sell it to someone in the US but if it’s not too pictures, it’s very easy to notice the difference in picture much of a hassle will ship anywhere if you are willing to quality that the 80 extra lines (576 vs 480 lines) make in pay shipping and insurance.