The Magazine for TV and FM DXers August 2019 The Official Publication of the Worldwide TV-FM DX Association So how do YOU feel about the 2019 E Skip Season, eh? THE VHF-UHF DIGEST 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, KEITH McGINNIS, JIM THOMAS AND MIKE BUGAJ. Treasurer: Keith McGinnis wtfda.org/info Webmaster: Tim McVey Forum Site Administrator: Chris Cervantez Editorial Staff: Jeff Kruszka, Keith McGinnis, Fred Nordquist, Nick Langan, Doug Smith, John Zondlo and Mike Bugaj Your WTFDA Booard of Directors Doug Smith Mike Bugaj Keith McGinnis Jim Thomas [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 WTFDA+[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. This group is just for WTFDA Members. The WTFDA FM Database is administered and updated by your fellow WTFDA members. It is completely free to use.You can find it at http://db.wtfda.org. Only the FCC and Radio-Locator top us on Google searches. VHF-UHF Digest 2 August 2019 DUES RECEIVED Not directional, but surprisingly it works very well on both bands – electrical storms permitting. DATE NAME S/P EXP FM – a modified Curtis Mathes tuner I got from a 6/20/2019 Mike Lazaro NY 6-20 ham friend. He’d done the Tim McVey If circuit 7/17/2019 David Smith UK 8-20 7/18/2019 Steve French MN 8-20 mod to it (ATTN: Tim, I know you’re reading this – 7/18/2019 David Sinclair BC 7-20 ed) 7/18/2019 Doug McAbee MI 6-20 2m ham – Icom 251A I bought used in 1989. 7/18/2019 Brett Saylor PA 7-20 Cushcraft 13B2 yagi that will go on same mast as 7/18/2019 Craig Cook FL 6-20 the FM-10. 7/18/2019 John Zondlo OK 7-20 NSW – Kenwood TM261 2m (shack rig for eons) 7/18/2019 Robert Ross ON 7-20 and omni vertical. 7/18/2019 Bill Coury MI 6-20 I’ve been looking at one of the SDRPlay radios that 7/19/2019 Wally Bloss MO 6-20 Ham Radio Outlet carries but haven’t jumped yet. 7/26/2019 Alan Michalek MA 7-20 Partly because I’d need to build a new computer to 7/26/2019 Ronald Purdue MN 7-20 7/26/2019 Todd Brandenburg KS 8-20 handle it (unless you a crappy old single core 7/27/2019 Doug Smith TN 7-20 computer, it should work ok on a straight dual-core computer as long as you keep your bandwidth This week we welcome David Smith and Todd down to a couple of mhz, not the full 8mhz –ed) Brandenburg to the WTFDA. Todd lives in Topeka, KS, and David , as far as I can recall, is our first UK ****** member. David lives in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Welcome to both of you! And thank you everyone for renewing your membership in the WTFDA! ****** Todd Brandenburg writes: Back in the late 80s and 90s, I was a WTFDA member. Real life got in the way of my Dxing, so I let my membership lapse. Got out of vhf dx (ham or broadcast) entirely after There is no Coast to Coast TV DX column this my last antenna setup came down in a month. You old timers may remember when there thunderstorm. The bug is biting again, so sometime were both Eastern TVDX and Western TVDX in the next few weeks my FM-10 will go back up on columns in the VUD. Those were combined to just the roof. Need to find new mast (all of mine are one column with Nick as editor. But some major bent thanks to storms) and guy wire clamps, which contributors have since either passed away, left for may require a visit to a Radio Shack franchise store Facebook or became victims of the repack unable near Wichita. to do any TV DXing at all. So I’ll ask the question…if CTC TV DX were no longer, would you miss it? It My DX gear…AM and NDB (what’s left of them can’t exist without contributors, you know. anyway): Kenwood TS-450S and my 40m vertical. VHF-UHF Digest 3 August 2019 ionosphere the way most radio enthusiasts are familiar with, regarding expectations of the production of radio signal reflections, such as the production of Sporadic Es and Aurora propagation. NASA has acknowledged that the current solar cycle low is the lowest recorded in the past 100 year period. Here are some thought about the 2019 skip season The ARRL anticipates an improving solar cycle, with from Jim Thomas: the new cycle peaking sometime between 2022 and 2025. The ARRL cited in their own press So where has all the good E's gone??? release published on April 8, 2019, “While we are not predicting a particularly active Solar Cycle 25, It's been all too recognizable this 2019 E-skip violent eruptions from the sun can occur at any season, that almost all FM & TV dxers are in time,” said Doug Biesecker, panel co-chair and a frustration from the lack of E's. When there have solar physicist at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction been skip openings, most are of short duration and Center (SWPC). An example of this occurred on July the MUF remains relatively low. There have been a 23, 2012, when a powerful coronal mass ejection handful of E-skip openings that have entered the (CME) eruption missed Earth but enveloped NASA’s FM band and some have gone to the top of the STEREO-A satellite. A 2013 study estimated that dial, but those have been few and short lived. the US would have suffered between $600 billion and $2.6 trillion in damages, particularly to In April of this year, the ARRL picked up on the electrical infrastructure, if the 2012 CME had been news from NASA/NOAA that the current cycle (24) directed toward Earth. The strength of the 2012 has all but ended and Cycle 25 began in October eruption was comparable to the famous 1859 2018. The ARRL, NOAA, and NASA all say its an Carrington event that caused widespread damage extremely slow start, being compared to a snail's to telegraph stations around the world and pace. In the quarterly NOAA/NASA press release, produced aurora displays as far south as the which was released the last week of June of this Caribbean. year, they commented that the Sun has been in a deep solar minimum since early last year, with its Pardon the pun, but the solar cycle is beginning to low point this past February, when there were no look up. It just may take a while to get back to the sunspots on the surface for the entire month. At "good old days" of a full blown E-skip opening. any given time during active years, there is an ***** average of 90 sunspots on the surface of the Sun. The NASA/NOAA press release also said the Earth is I know that some people are really bummed out by not headed towards a Maunder Minimum, which the lack of Es this summer. In my own case, it’s some scientists had predicted 10 years ago. The probably a blessing. My wife and I have spent the "Maunder Minimum" phrase was coined in 1976, last five years helping raise my two grandsons. after the solar minimum of Grandkid #1 is in school now so that leaves us with 1645 to 1715, when the Earth went through a very grandkid #2, who is now 2 1/2. We’ve been dark solar cycle, which also effected global watching him two days a week since he was born. weather. Now it’s up to five days a week and sometimes we get both of them for the day. It’s work. I didn’t Further, the NASA/NOAA press release stated that really miss the Es this summer. -Mike the lack of solar activity has not affected the VHF-UHF Digest 4 August 2019 Presented by COMING TO A Just 4 Fun Productions CONVENTION CENTER NEAR YOU! 2019 CONVENTION SERIES SUPER TV & FM DX Forecasting Convention What You Will THIS CONVENTION IS JAM-PACKED Learn At This Convention... WITH EXCITING AND ENGAGING Featured Keynote Talks TOPICS! -Sporadic is Passé.