DTV DXing

[Rollo-Smokes]

With all the fun of the last thread about misconceptions of the transition, I chose to go light here.

I'm just astonished by the number of distant DTV signals I've been getting. I thought DXing analog signals and AM radio was interesting, but this is ridiculous. This will be a long list, but this is what I've been getting from my fifth-floor apartment in Jamaica, N.Y.:

My equipment combos:
Insignia DTV converter box (coupon-eligible) and Terk HDTVa (amplified) antenna
Samsung DTB-H260 DTV converter box (non-coupon eligible) and Terk HDTVi (non-amplified) antenna

My local stations:
WCBS-TV New York (2.1/RF channel 56)
WBQM-LD Brooklyn NY (3.1/RF 3)
WNBC-TV New York (4.1, 4.2, 4.4/RF 28)
WNYW New York (5.1, 5.2/RF 44)
WABC-TV New York (7.1, 7.2, 7.3/RF 45)
WWOR-TV Secaucus NJ (9.1, 9.2/RF 38)
WPIX New York (11.1, 11.2/RF 33)
WNET Newark NJ (13.1, 13.2, 13.3/RF 61)
WLIW Garden City NY (21.1, 21.3, 21.4/RF 22)
WNYE-TV New York (25.1, 25.2/RF 24)
WFME-TV West Milford NJ (29.1 through 29.10/RF 29)
WPXN-TV New York (31.1 through 31.4/RF 30)
WXTV Paterson NJ (41.1/RF 40)
WSAH-DT Bridgeport CT (43.1/DT 42)
WNJU Linden NJ (47.1/RF 36)
WRNN-DT Kingston NY (48.1, 48.2, 48.3/RF 48)
WNJN Montclair NJ (50.1 through 50.5/RF 51)
WTBY Poughkeepsie NY (54.1 through 54.5/RF 27)
WLNY-DT Riverhead NY (55.1/RF 57)
WNJB New Brunswick NJ (58.1, 58.3, 58.4/RF eight)
WMBC-TV Newton NJ (63.1 through 63.5/RF 18)
WFTY-TV Smithtown NY (67.1/RF 23)
WFUT-TV Newark NJ (68.1/RF 53)

The distant stations picked-up:
WMAR-TV Baltimore (2.1, 2.2/RF 52)
WUND-TV Edenton NC (2.1 through 2.5/RF 20)
KYW-TV Philadelphia (3.1/RF 26)
WPVI-TV Philadelphia (6.1, 6.2, 6.3/RF 64)
WTNH-TV New Haven CT (8.1/RF 10)
WCAU-TV Philadelphia (10.1, 10.2/RF 67)
WBAL-TV Baltimore (11.1, 11.2/RF 59)
WJZ-TV Baltimore (13.1/RF 38)
WPHL-TV Philadelphia (17.1, 17.2/RF 54)
WDCA-TV Washington DC (20.1/RF 35)
WTXF-TV Philadelphia (29.1/RF 42)
WVIT New Britain CT (30.1, 30.2/RF 35)
WMGM-TV Wildwood NJ (40.1/RF 36)
WNJT Trenton NJ (52.1, 52.3, 52.4/RF 43)
WPSG Philadelphia (57.1/RF 32)
WWSI Atlantic City NJ (62.1/RF 49)
WUVP Vineland NJ (65.1, 65.2/RF 66)

Some of these stations come in better than my so-called "locals". WPSG comes in quite frequently, and better than the other Philly stations (I got KYW, WPVI, and WCAU a lot better during later spring and early summer). I picked up WJZ one morning during a period when WWOR-DT either was off the air or lowered their power (both stations use channel 38), and WMGM has come in when its signal apparently overpowered WNJU-DT (both stations use channel 36).

I have also picked up a signal on channel 19, but it hasn't yet come in strong enough to be read. The closest DTVs on 19 from here are in Syracuse (WSTM-TV) and Boston (WGBH-TV). Speaking of New England, I wonder why I haven't picked up much from that area, other than the two Connecticut stations.

Of course when the transition takes place, a few stations from this list will be un-receivable: for example, WPIX and WBAL-TV are both moving back to channel 11, and WNET and WJZ-TV are returning to 13. WMAR-DT will be moving to channel 38. So I'm getting my Baltimore TV fix while I still can.

Is anyone else having any luck capturing distant DTV stations?

 

[DToTheJ]

Nice to know the trend of TV DXing will not be totally obsolete once analog bites the dust...

What I'd like to know is what WMBC has five subchannels for! Are they all brokered?

 

[KML0224]

WVIT-DT (NBC) channel 35 of New Britain, CT has its transmitter on Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington, CT (a few miles west-southwest of Hartford). Also, WTIC-DT (FOX) channel 31 of Hartford transmits from there, although I think WPXN-TV (ION) analog channel 31 will prevent that. You might be able to get WEDH-DT (PBS) channel 45 of Hartford soon enough. They'll be transmitting their new digital signal from there by September. Speaking of Connecticut, were you able to get WCTX-DT (MY) channel 39 from New Haven?

 

[tripinva]

WMBC has added a fifth subchannel? I was there at the beginning of July and they only had 4:

63-1 Regular programming
63-2 Korean
63-3 Unsión (Spanish Family sort of channel)
63-4 "Mundo Hispano TV"

I have done lots of DTV DXing, though I can't say I've been as successful as I'd like yet...

Locals:

WDBJ-DT CBS Roanoke (7-1, RF18)
WSLS-DT NBC Roanoke (10-1, RF30)
WSET-DT ABC Lynchburg (13-1, RF34)
WBRA-DT PBS Roanoke (15-1, RF03) (Spends a lot of time being unwatchable)
WWCW-DT CW- Lynchburg (21-1, RF20)
WDRL-DT IND Danville (24-1, RF41) (Signal always there, only very rarely received)
WFXR-DT FOX Roanoke (27-1, RF17)
WVIR-DT NBC Charlottesville (29-1, RF32) (Maxes out signal meter if I aim the antenna toward Charlottesville, otherwise doesn't come in)
WPXR-DT ION Roanoke (38-1, RF36)

I've seen via DX:

Charlottesville
WHTJ-DT PBS (41-1, RF46)

Richmond
WTVR-DT CBS (6-1, RF25)
WRIC-DT ABC (8-1, RF22)
WWBT-DT NBC (12-1, RF54)
WCVE-DT PBS (23-1, RF42)
WRLH-DT FOX (35-1, RF26)
WCVW-DT PBS (57-1, RF44)
WUPV-DT PBS (65-1, RF47)

Norfolk:
WAVY-DT NBC (10-1, RF31)
WVEC-DT ABC (13-1, RF41)
WHRO-DT PBS (15-1, RF16)
WGNT-DT CW- (27-1, RF50)
WPXV-DT ION (49-1, RF46)

Raleigh:
WUNC-DT PBS (4-1, RF59)
WRAL-DT CBS (5-1, RF53)
WTVD-DT ABC (11-1, RF52)
WNCN-DT NBC (17-1, RF55)
WLFL-DT CW- (22-1, RF57)
WRDC-DT MyN (28-1, RF27)
WRAY-DT INF (30-1, RF42)
WUNP-DT PBS (36-1, RF39)
WUVC-DT UNI (40-1, RF38)
WRPX-DT ION (47-1, RF15)
WRAZ-DT FOX (50-1, RF49)

Greensboro:
WFMY-DT CBS (2-1, RF51)
WGHP-DT FOX (8-1, RF35)
WXII-DT NBC (12-1, RF31)
WGPX-DT ION (16-1, RF14)
WCWG-DT CW- (20-1, RF19)
WXLV-DT ABC (45-1, RF29)
WMYV-DT MyN (48-1, RF33)
WLXI-DT TCT (61-1, RF43)

Charlotte:
WBTV-DT CBS (3-1, RF23)
WUNG-DT PBS (58-1, RF44)

Greenville NC:
WITN-DT NBC (7-1, RF32)
WFXI-DT FOX (8-1, RF24)
WCTI-DT ABC (12-1, RF48)
WUNK-DT PBS (25-1, RF23)

Wilmington:
WWAY-DT ABC (3-1, RF46)
WECT-DT NBC (6-1, RF44)
WUNJ-DT PBS (39-1, RF29)

Florence SC:
WBTW-DT CBS (13-1, RF56)
WPDE-DT ABC (15-1, RF16)
WWMB-DT CW- (21-1, RF20)
WUNU-DT PBS (31-1, RF25)

And my apartment in Charlottesville of course has the Charlottesville local channels, but via DX I've seen most of Richmond, as well as WJLA-DT from DC and WBAL-DT from Baltimore.

There's plenty of DXing to do with DTV. After the shutoff, it will get a lot easier to do. =)

- Trip

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

Nice to know the trend of TV DXing will not be totally obsolete once analog bites the dust...

What I'd like to know is what WMBC has five subchannels for! Are they all brokered?

WMBC has added a fifth subchannel? I was there at the beginning of July and they only had 4:

63-1 Regular programming
63-2 Korean
63-3 Unsión (Spanish Family sort of channel)
63-4 "Mundo Hispano TV"
- Trip

WMBC lost the Unsión feed for a while and on August 1 replaced it with MBC, a Korean general-entertainment network, on 63.3. Unsión recently returned, within the last week, on the newly-fired up 63.5. The Korean programming on 63.2 is mostly of a Christian nature.

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

WVIT-DT has its transmitter on Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington, CT (a few miles west-southwest of Hartford). Also, WTIC-DT transmits from there, although I think WPXN-TV analog channel 31 will prevent that. You might be able to get WEDH-DT Hartford soon enough. They'll be transmitting their new digital signal from there by September. Speaking of Connecticut, were you able to get WCTX-DT from New Haven?

I wanted to answer this in my previous post, but the all-to-brief time limit for modifications expired.

WVIT-DT is the most consistent of the Connecticut stations I've picked up. I've gotten WTNH-DT sparingly, and have never recieved WCTX-DT. I don't think any of the CPTV stations are on digital yet, because I would have surely received WEDW-DT on 52 by now.

There's no way I'll get WEDH-DT until perhaps after the transition is done (they share 45 with WABC-DT), and I'll never pick up WFSB-DT on 33 (in NY, WPIX is on 33 now, and WCBS-DT will move there next February).

 

[dhett]

I'm just astonished by the number of distant DTV signals I've been getting. I thought DXing analog signals and AM radio was interesting, but this is ridiculous. This will be a long list, but this is what I've been getting from my fifth-floor apartment in Jamaica, N.Y.:
.
.
.
Is anyone else having any luck capturing distant DTV stations?

Being on a fifth floor helps a lot, as does being near water, and in a coastal plain. That's an impressive list.

 

[MotoMuzak]

Man Rollo and Trip, those are an amazing ATSC DX log.

I live just north of Portland, OR so for the most part I have really only been able to get Portland ATSC channels. Haven't been lucky enough to DX Seattle......yet.............

The only time so far that I have gotten [out of market] DX on ATSC was a few months ago, getting a few seconds of KVAL's ATSC channel on 25 from Eugene. (That was shortly after I moved into my current apartment.) This came as a surprise to me, considering TBN operates a full-power NTSC broadcast on channel 24 (KNMT), which considering where I am located and my clear view of the transmitter to the South, could easily swallow up any distant ATSC that may be "along for the ride" in its sidebands.

(But then again, it's absolutely worth mentioning that the broadcast bands in most areas of the Northwest aren't nearly as densly packed as they are in the eastern U.S. ;o)

I'm looking forward to potential low-VHF NTSC DXing from Canada and Mexico after next February.........

 

[KML0224]

I wanted to answer this in my previous post, but the all-to-brief time limit for modifications expired.

WVIT-DT is the most consistent of the Connecticut stations I've picked up. I've gotten WTNH-DT sparingly, and have never recieved WCTX-DT. I don't think any of the CPTV stations are on digital yet, because I would have surely received WEDW-DT on 52 by now.

There's no way I'll get WEDH-DT until perhaps after the transition is done (they share 45 with WABC-DT), and I'll never pick up WFSB-DT on 33 (in NY, WPIX is on 33 now, and WCBS-DT will move there next February).

WEDW-DT of Bridgeport is indeed on the air. So are the CPTV stations in New Haven (channel 6) and Norwich (channel 45 now, soon to be 9). Only WEDH-DT of Hartford has yet to sign on the air. If it makes you feel any better, I've never received WEDY-DT channel 6 from New Haven either, 30 miles to the north of that city and X number of miles from East Rock Park, where there analog channel 65 transmitter is.