It was a good place for what I learned later was tv dx and a GREAT place to enjoy a dark night sky.
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DXing in Analog
- Thread starter MarioMania
- Start date
In that same time frame (1970s), one system in Harlan County tried to carry WCPO-9 Cincinnati, then one or two years later, another nearby system attempted WSOC Charlotte (this per Television Factbook). My guess is that the former operator invested in an antenna cut for channel 9, couldn't provide a viable signal, and then passed it on to the other system, "hey, this antenna doesn't work for us, put it up on your tower and see if you can get anything with it". Unless someone found the mother of all sweet spots, signals would have had to be absolute trash by the time they traveled those distances. (Or perhaps WSWP Grandview WV went on the air and compromised both stations.) WSOC actually appeared in TVFB with 5-24% viewership in Harlan County one year.
It would be nice if there were some old-timers in the industry up there from back in those days who could be interviewed and see how it all rattled out, but anyone who would know, probably isn't around anymore.
According to the 1970-1971 TVFB Services volume, which just posted to World Radio History recently, it shows WCPO being carried on cable in Cumberland, and WSOC in nearby Harlan, though admittedly these might not have been simultaneous. My speculation that the operator in Cumberland let the Harlan system have the channel 9 antenna was just that, sheer speculation. Again, WSWP going on the air about that time (the CP is listed in the same volume) may have tolled the death knell for that reception, not necessarily failure to deliver at least a marginally acceptable signal on WCPO and WSOC prior to that. I don't have a source, but I recall reading somewhere that in the very early days, cable in Hazard carried WLWT and WCPO. The signal may have been garbage, but viewers in the mountains were used to that kind of thing. As noted in another thread on RD, a snowy Milton Berle was better than no Milton Berle at all.
Interestingly, the London KY cable is listed as carrying both WLOS and WANC (presumably channel 62 at the time) from Asheville in that year. WBLG probably made that impossible once they went on the air (though the cable in London is listed as carrying both stations). WANC went on to become the present-day WHNS-21 through sale to the Pappas family.
Charleston was always very good for analog reception back in the day. We had the four VHFs locally (2, 4, 5 and 7) and on my Walkman and rabbit ears in my upstairs area over the garage you could get a lot of signals. 87.7 often brought in the Augusta, Wilmington or Orlando Channel 6s especially during the spring and summer and when the tropo/skip was going, you knew it.
Furthest I got with rabbit ears was WFTV Orlando on Channel 9 and WCTI New Bern on 12. Think I got West Palm Beach once or twice. On the Walkman I heard several Canadian stations, and one day I got four stations from Oklahoma walking one of the local beaches.
Even on UHF I could get stuff. Usually you'd get 6 channels max but I picked up Columbia multiple times (110 miles) and Jacksonville.
When I went up to the Myrtle Beach area Wilmington 3 and 6 always came in better than 13 from Dillon. Charleston came in better once you were south of US 501.
Furthest I got with rabbit ears was WFTV Orlando on Channel 9 and WCTI New Bern on 12. Think I got West Palm Beach once or twice. On the Walkman I heard several Canadian stations, and one day I got four stations from Oklahoma walking one of the local beaches.
Even on UHF I could get stuff. Usually you'd get 6 channels max but I picked up Columbia multiple times (110 miles) and Jacksonville.
When I went up to the Myrtle Beach area Wilmington 3 and 6 always came in better than 13 from Dillon. Charleston came in better once you were south of US 501.
Same here, I lived in MB (just off Kings Highway near the Pine Lake Country Club, in the 48th Avenue North area) and had a RadioShack log periodic, either LP-190 or LP-210, I forget which, on a rotor about 15 feet off the ground (on top of the carport). I always got Wilmington 3/6/26/39 and Charleston 2/4/5/7 (sometimes 24, and 36 once in a great while) much more easily than the Dillon/Hamer sticks on 13/15/21. Occasional DX included Raleigh, Greenville NC market, Columbia, Charlotte, the Piedmont Triad, and Savannah, I'd sometimes see Florida and once got WDBJ-7 Roanoke.When I went up to the Myrtle Beach area Wilmington 3 and 6 always came in better than 13 from Dillon. Charleston came in better once you were south of US 501.