VHF-UHF DIGEST The Official Publication of the Worldwide TV-FM DX Association MAY 2011 The Magazine for TV and FM DXers Picture by Paul Mitschler If you only read one page of this VUD, read PAGE THREE! Visit Us At www.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, BRUCE HALL, KEITH McGINNIS AND MIKE BUGAJ. Editor and publisher: Mike Bugaj Treasurer: Keith McGinnis wtfda.org Webmaster: Tim McVey wtfda.info Site Administrator: Chris Cervantez Editorial Staff: Jeff Kruszka, Keith McGinnis, Fred Nordquist, Nick Langan, Doug Smith, Peter Baskind, Bill Hale and John Zondlo, Our website: www.wtfda.org; Our forums: www.wtfda.info MAY 2011 _______________________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS Page Two 2 Our Future 3 Finally! For those of you online with an email Mailbox 4 address, we now offer a quick, convenient and TV News…Doug Smith 5 FM News…Bill Hale 10 secure way to join or renew your membership FCC Facilities Changes 16 in the WTFDA. Just logon to Paypal and send Photo News…Jeff Kruszka 20 your dues to [email protected]. Coast to Coast TV DX…Nick Langan 22 Use the email address above to either join Southern FM DX…John Zondlo 29 the WTFDA or renew your membership in Northern FM DX…Keith McGinnis 31 NOAA Weather Radio…Eric Bueneman 39 North America’s only TV and DX organization. Review: RCA Mobile DTV Receiver 41 Appalacian Radio 43 Membership with Paper VUD: $24/year Canadian RDS Expansion 45 Membership with eVUD (.pdf): $10/year Renewal Form 47 Please See Page Three FIND US FAST! WTFDA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mike Bugaj, use the WTFDA Mailing address listed below [email protected] Doug Smith, 1385 Old Clarksville Pike, Pleasant View, TN 37146-8098 [email protected] Greg Coniglio, 11825 Genesee St., Alden, NY 14004 [email protected] D.Bruce Hall, 5 Stirton Ave., Brantford, ON N3T1E2 Canada [email protected] Keith McGinnis, 18 Newbridge St., Hingham, MA 02043 [email protected] ******************************************************************************************************* THE MAILBOX and all general club correspondence: Mike Bugaj at WTFDA, PO Box 501, Somersville, CT 06072 [email protected] TV NEWS Doug Smith, 1389 Old Clarksville Pike, Pleasant View, TN 37146-8098 [email protected] FM NEWS Bill Hale, 6124 Roaring Springs Drive, N. Richland Hills, TX 76180 [email protected] PHOTO NEWS Jeff Kruszka, 1909 Lost Lake Pl., Pearland, TX 77581 [email protected] EASTERN AND WESTERN TV DX Nick Langan, 1040 Riverview Dr., Florence, NJ 08516 [email protected] SOUTHERN FM John Zondlo, 4009 Driftwood Cir., Yukon, OK 73099 [email protected] NORTHERN FM Keith McGinnis, 18 Newbridge St., Hingham, MA 02043 [email protected] TV and FM STATISTICS Fred Nordquist, 147 Travis Hill Road, Moncks Corner, SC [email protected] 6 METER/2 METER Peter Baskind, 3225 Forest Hill-Irene Rd, Germantown, TN 38138 [email protected] WEBSITE Tim McVey Webmaster http://www.wtfda.org [email protected] 2 The Future of the VUD & WTFDA This is a question to the entire WTFDA membership. What would happen to the WTFDA as a club if suddenly the VUD stopped being published? Would it matter? Would you want to keep the WTFDA going without it, even if that meant a WTFDA in a different form? Here’s why I ask. In two short months I will turn 65. I have already retired from my technician job back in August of 2010. I have been publishing the VUD for you all for the past ten years. At some point I will stop. I can’t conceive of me publishing a paper VUD at age 70, or even 67. If I were ten years younger I would still be looking forward to doing the paper VUD, but not now. Find another publisher, you might say. Some might remember that I took this job because no one else wanted it back then and my gut feeling is that even more so, nobody is going to want to publish both a paper VUD and an eZine. I’ve already emailed the board about my future plans and they are supportive. Almost everyone who joins WTFDA now takes the eVUD. It's been around since Sept. 2001 and has about 90 happy readers. Preparing the eVUD takes considerably less time each month than preparing the paper edition. I can continue publishing the eVUD as long as I stay healthy (you never know). But if I’m unable to do it for some reason, the information will be available on the WTFDA Forum site. So effective immediately, I will no longer take NEW subscriptions for the paper VUD. The paper VUD is no longer an option for new members or re-joiners. Membership forms now reflect that change. I will return any $24 checks I receive for new memberships and/or contact them about taking the eVUD instead. WTFDA members who now receive the paper VUD will continue to receive the paper VUD until a time to be determined (12-18 months?). For members who, for one reason or another, have no access to a computer and internet, we will continue to mail you a printed edition. I would ask WTFDA members who are online (and that’s all but about 40 of you) to please voluntarily change over to the eVUD at renewal time to help make this transition easier. Many of you already read both versions so switching should not be a problem. The WTFDA Forums (wtfda.info) have just been upgraded to vBulletin 4.13 and ought to be more than just discussion forums. The Forums should be WTFDA HQ. The Members Area of the Forums is perfect for that purpose. The Members Area is ideal for WTFDA members interacting with each other, receiving news from the BoD and column editors, preparing your reports and reading your eVUD. You can now enter IRC Chat from the Forums. Give Us Your Input! 1.Does the WTFDA really need a paper publication? Yes( ) No( ) 2.Would a Forum site, website, eVUD and email list be of enough value to keep you as a dues paying WTFDA member? Yes( ) No( ) 3.Would a Forum site, website and email list be of enough value to keep you as a dues paying WTFDA member? Yes( ) No( ) 4.Have you visited the WTFDA Forums (wtfda.info)at least once in the past three months? Yes( ) No( ) 5.Do you ever visit the WTFDA Website (wtfda.org)? Yes( ) No( ) If you checked no on #4 or #5, please explain briefly _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ The future of the WTFDA is up to you, not me. I’ve done my share the past ten years to help keep it going but it’s you folks who will ultimately determine its fate. Perhaps somebody will emerge to keep publishing the paper VUD. But right now we cannot count on that happening. Take our survey. Mail it back to PO Box 501 OR email your answers to the BOD or better yet, register at the WTFDA Forums and post your thoughts in the Members Area (I will also try to have this survey available there). We will print all comments in the VUD/eVUD. Please email any (or all) of the BoD. Tell us what you think. Please do it because apathy will also tell us volumes about the condition of the club. Don’t rely on somebody else to do it. We need to hear from you. Thanks for reading. 3 P.O. Box 501, Somersville, CT USA 06072 MIKE BUGAJ [email protected] IS IT SPRING YET? Thursday, June 23 - Sunday, June 26, 2011 at Airport Value Inn & Suites, 6875 Space Weather-wise it’s been pretty dismal for Village Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO, many of us. I think a few of us are pretty fed 80915. up with the month of April and looking forward From more information about to a little tropo and E skip in the next few accomodations, browse to months. I hope we can salvage what is left of http://www.airportvalueinn.com spring. I’ve actually resorted to monitoring the CB Phone number for reservations and inquiries frequencies and 10 meters. How pathetic is is 719-596-5588. that? Special convention guest room rate will be What’s even more pathetic is looking out $69 per night, mention IRCA convention and the kitchen window and seeing the host Bob Wien. Mike Sanburn will be playing thermometer read 35 degrees outside, which co-host. Bob has set up a special address to it has, two days in a row; great conditions for accept registrations of $30 per person, and tropo, he said with some sarcasm! any auction item donations etc...It is And, as luck would have it, a fairly large Robert Wien th Es opening occurred on April 27 that took in #106 much of the eastern US and Canada. The 2910 North Powers Blvd. MUF was up to at least 108mhz. A few DTVs Colorado Springs, CO were logged as well as Canadian analogs. 80922-2801 See the WTFDA forums for more details. We're planning the usual station tours on Friday, tower photo ops, business meeting, MEMBERS AND MORE banquet, and auction on Saturday. We'll have much more information as it becomes This month we add two new members. available. Everybody who loves AM radio is John Ramsey (CT) signed up for the eVUD invited ! For more info, contact Mike Sanburn.