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DXing Season TV & FM

M

MarioMania

I'm going to gear up on the DXing seaon in June...but while my DX-380 is good, I only have Battery Power The AC Part dosn't work..

I have about 3 Analog Radios..I use the most

GE Model #3-5631A
Panasonic Model RX-C38
Sony CFS-201

If I hear a station ..How can I ID it, If I have a Analog Tuning??
 
It's a mixed bag. In some ways it was easier to ID stations in the past, when only call letters were stressed; today, slogans like "B-102" are the norm. Also on AM, syndicated talk shows can make life difficult for the DXer (to paraphrase World Radio-TV Handbook); often it is best to wait until the top OR bottom of the hour, although local commercials can give it away.

However! With the Internet today, ID'ing stations can be a snap! www.radio-locator.com should be handy for you. Google will help a lot too (I *would* say "Google is your friend," but it seems like an insult to say it now, from what I understand).

If, for instance, you hear "B-102", just type in B-102 or B102. www.yes.com will be a help too, as many stations subscribe to it, and list the last songs (or current songs) played.

IF you hear something like "Rock 104", Google "Rock 104" and include the quotation marks when you do. That keeps the phrase together.

Also I like www.radiostationworld.com .

Of course, digital radios would help more, but you have analog.

cd
 
So the VHF Propagation Maps changes all the time when I click on it

What's the best time in the morning's & evening's to check the FM & TV band??
 
From my experience here and up in New Jersey, the best times for TV and FM tropo are a few hours after sunset in the evening until a few hours past sunrise in the morning.

That's if the tropo conditions exist in the first place.

I'd also say that from my experience anyway that the morning is a little better than the evening in general, though my best tropo catch ever came late in the evening this time last year.
 
^^^

It's **never** a bad time to check....you never know.

As for Sporadic-E (E-skip) rarely does it happen before 8 am to after 10 pm. Generally that does not start until late Apr/early May.

cd
 
Tropo conditions can sometimes last round the clock but I've noticed the difference between the middle of the day and the early mornings/evenings is like night and day.
 
I got Rev 89 from Pueblo, CO last year at 6 PM on my walkman for a few mins..

I got only a Spanish station playing soccer on Ch.2 in June
 
Not many stations use call letters besides their top hour IDs anymore. Things to look for nowadays would be a website address or a facebook/twitter address mentioned on air.

Local commercials can be useful, google is your friend here. It will help you find the address of this business which means you can find a station in the same area that would be broadcasting that commercial.

Also many stations keep previously played lists on their websites where you can verify a song being played at a specific time. Yes.com lets you search a bunch of previously played lists. If you have a short song clip that you need to ID, check out Midomi.com
 
I have a question.since I cant even receive the local tv station which is the next town over from my house,Ok how in the heck I can DX DTV.
What do I need to do so.
 
Back in late July of last year, I had some freak tropo. Broke records on that, e.g. KDUK 104.7 Florence, OR at over 250 miles almost local like, 106.3 KLOO Corvallis over KBKS IBOC etc. Sometimes Tropo is that great, other times not so great.

-crainbebo
 
WPPCProductions said:
I have a question.since I cant even receive the local tv station which is the next town over from my house,Ok how in the heck I can DX DTV.
What do I need to do so.
Click to expand...

I'm still only 2 years or so into DTV DXn, but it can be rewarding. First, you need an outdoor antenna---I suggest one that can be good on all channels 2-51 (many so called "HDTV" antennas stress the UHF and don't put much into the VHF)---I myself have the Channel Master CM3020 available from www.solidsignal.com .

Next, I think you'll be fine with an analog TV AND a proper set-top box (converting to digital). If you can get a Zenith DTT901 or Insignia STB, by all means, get one....they are the best and most sensitive IMO.

Last Apr 1, 2010 I got a station 780 miles away on Tropo....around June that year I got E-skip on DT 4, WHBF in Rock Island IL, a distance of 1200 miles. These are not record distances, but it just shows to go ya that DXing DTV is far from impossible!

cd
 
cd: Es have happened to me anytime. One of my best openings (from Lake Geneva, WI) to TX, LA & FL started just after midnight last year.
 
dxer720 said:
cd: Es have happened to me anytime. One of my best openings (from Lake Geneva, WI) to TX, LA & FL started just after midnight last year.
Click to expand...

Yes, I was just being general. I got WKYC 3 Cleveland on Es about 10-15 years ago at the end of "Saturday Night Live" at 1am.

Also, Es supposedly could happen any month, but I have yet to catch it in February (IDing anything, anyway). I had one strong opening to Central America in September 1990.

cd
 
cd637299 said:
dxer720 said:
cd: Es have happened to me anytime. One of my best openings (from Lake Geneva, WI) to TX, LA & FL started just after midnight last year.
Click to expand...

Yes, I was just being general. I got WKYC 3 Cleveland on Es about 10-15 years ago at the end of "Saturday Night Live" at 1am.

Also, Es supposedly could happen any month, but I have yet to catch it in February (IDing anything, anyway). I had one strong opening to Central America in September 1990.

cd
Click to expand...

I has ES in January once. I was shocked at the time.
 
WPPCProductions said:
I have a question.since I cant even receive the local tv station which is the next town over from my house,Ok how in the heck I can DX DTV.
What do I need to do so.
Click to expand...


I'm in Tampa. I have one of those made for DTV antennas with a booster and still some of the local stations have trouble staying locked into the screen at times.

Getting any DTV stations from another market, even Orlando, has never happened even in the best conditions and it's not something I check for anymore.
 
What I don't like about DTV is that most of the Milwaukee Wisconsin & South Bend Indiana stations are on the same channels: WVCY Milwaukee (don't really care for this station) & WSBT South Bend on RF 22, WTMJ Milwaukee & WSJV Elkhart/South Bend on RF 28, WMVT Milwaukee & WNIT South Bend on RF 35, & WBME Racine/Milwaukee & WHME-TV South Bend on RF 48. Becuase of this, I don't get the Milwaukee area stations, since I'm about 60 miles from South Bend, & I'm much more likely to get the South Bend stations. WHME-TV has a CP to go back to their former channel 46, which would then make it difficult to get WDJT Milwaukee on RF 46, when WHME-TV decides to go back to 46.

So far, the only Milwaukee area station I got since going digital is WMVS Milwaukee on RF 8 (I never got them on analog RF 10). I no longer can get WVTV due to local WHNW-LD being on RF 18 from Gary, IN. I haven't gotten WCGV Milwaukee on RF 25, or WISN Milwaukee on RF 34. I can't get WPXE Kenosha/Milwaukee, WI due to WESV-LD being on the air on RF 40 from Chicago. For Michigan, I have gotten WWMT on RF 8 once, WTLJ Grand Rapids, MI once on RF 24. I currently don't get WOOD-TV, due to WLS-TV still broadcasting on RF 7, while they also have RF 44.

During the analog days, I got a lot more. With channels now being short-spaced in digital, either people get interference, or we'll get one, but not the other station.
 
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