Just wondering if any residents of Florida still try any TV DXing? To my knowledge, that area is so level in comparison to other areas of the country, you might have a chance for some long-distance reception with the right kind of directional antenna and rotor. I'd be particularly interested if anyone in the southern part of the Sunshine State is able to pick up TV signals from Cuba or the other countries to the south.
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Florida TV DXing
- Thread starter Cincinnati Kid
- Start date
I've gotten the ch 6 audio from Miami in places like Everglades City and Immokalee while driving and other ch 6 audios from Orl and Tallahassee from approx 80-90 mi away on a normal day) on a std car radio. Also got a bunch of UHF's quite well from the Orlando area while Kamping at the KOA in Ocheechobee FL, (about 90-100 mi as the gator crawls )on my 'Forrest Gump" 2" HH TV . Conclusion-better reception here than in some other places I've been.
I'm about 30 mi from the DTV towers in Ft. Myers and will probably install a 8 bay bow and rotor after the DTV transition since the locals come in quite well with a 99 cent bow tie inside a metal roofed structure. Should be fun when the tropo rolls in.
I'm about 30 mi from the DTV towers in Ft. Myers and will probably install a 8 bay bow and rotor after the DTV transition since the locals come in quite well with a 99 cent bow tie inside a metal roofed structure. Should be fun when the tropo rolls in.
I DX with a 13" Panasonic color TV and a attic antenna on a rotor. A couple days ago via tropo I made this video of XHAB ch 7 Matamoros about 740 miles and XERV ch 9 Reynosa, Mexico about 770 mile away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC78YcjPoyw
mostly I just use TV to determine FM band conditions, primarily for sporadic E. I don't even have UHF channels past ch 20 tuned in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC78YcjPoyw
mostly I just use TV to determine FM band conditions, primarily for sporadic E. I don't even have UHF channels past ch 20 tuned in.
I have a small place in sw fla and i'm too cheap for cable. I can't get the CBS aff. WINK on VHF w/ the rabbit ears but get a number of good reasonably clear stations on UHF incl NBC, FOX, PBS, WB and Ch 66 from st Pete in the opposite direction. That's enuf. CBS comes in quite well on my HH TV but there's a metal roof. The Donald is certainly not a neighbor. Plus there's a "pray for view" which i don't watch/need.
There are some days where the ABC affiliate (26) comes in quite well and other days it is too snowy to watch. But on SOME days the UHF band lights up with all kinds of stuff, generally 175 mi or less because of the low gain VHF 99 cent bow tie. But digital is coming and i'm waiting to see how the frequencies and their ERP's shake out. I'm thinking that an 8 bay bow tie w/ an amp and rotor might just do fine and offer some cool dx opps.
There are some days where the ABC affiliate (26) comes in quite well and other days it is too snowy to watch. But on SOME days the UHF band lights up with all kinds of stuff, generally 175 mi or less because of the low gain VHF 99 cent bow tie. But digital is coming and i'm waiting to see how the frequencies and their ERP's shake out. I'm thinking that an 8 bay bow tie w/ an amp and rotor might just do fine and offer some cool dx opps.
I'm sorry to post, as I know this is an old post, but I have picked up many TV stations around Florida in the Carolinas.
Daytona Beach is one of the best spots to DX TV stations. I was up on the third floor deck of the Holiday Inn there, outdoors with a clear ocean view and the band just opened up completely.
Remember, I just have a Walkman audio with channels 2-13. I picked up all the Jacksonville VHFs almost perfectly, Ch. 13 and Ch. 10 from Tampa well (across the state of FL), and I picked up WTOC from Savannah.
FM is amazing during the summer up there, as all but 1 or 2 frequencies on the dial are filled up. I picked up 102.5 and 107.5 from Charleston, all of Jacksonville's FMs (even the small ones like 105.5 and 106.5 w/interference), many Savannah stations (including 98.7 from Beaufort, SC, 106.9, 102.1), and WHYI from Miami on 100.7.
Daytona Beach is one of the best spots to DX TV stations. I was up on the third floor deck of the Holiday Inn there, outdoors with a clear ocean view and the band just opened up completely.
Remember, I just have a Walkman audio with channels 2-13. I picked up all the Jacksonville VHFs almost perfectly, Ch. 13 and Ch. 10 from Tampa well (across the state of FL), and I picked up WTOC from Savannah.
FM is amazing during the summer up there, as all but 1 or 2 frequencies on the dial are filled up. I picked up 102.5 and 107.5 from Charleston, all of Jacksonville's FMs (even the small ones like 105.5 and 106.5 w/interference), many Savannah stations (including 98.7 from Beaufort, SC, 106.9, 102.1), and WHYI from Miami on 100.7.
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
charlestondxman said:
Pretty typical of my experiences when I lived there, and when I visit. I did have an interesting experience with TV DX. Some friends moved from Daytona to Keystone Heights, FL, the day before the big superbowl game. They realized with horror that they couldn't get channel 2 from Orlando and see the game. Not to worry, I was there. A quick trip to the local hardware store, some 300 Ohm twinlead and a piece of wood, and I had a channel 2 dipole installed on one of their trees in no time flat. Channel 2 video was perfect, except for some interference from channel 2 Atlanta. They used that antenna for years until the wood rotted, and the wire corroded out.
K
KE4KLS_Radio
Guest
When I lived in FL near Daytona Beach certain times of the year KPRC channel 2 in Houston would be underneath WESH's signal. At times, lots of skip over the Gulf from Mexico. Stations from Brownsville TX and Mexican stations in that vicinity were not uncommon...Never had much luck with Caribbean stations at my former location, however.
Living in Lake Alfred in the early '70s, I would regularly get all VHF stations from Tampa/St. Pete and Orlando/Daytona with some Miami thrown in on a small non-directional outdoor antenna. Daytona and Miami would take turns on my channel 2 and Tampa/Miami swapping out on channel 10. The fade ins/outs were daily occurrences; you could set your watch by them. Channel 4 was always a constant fight between Jax and Miami; ditto for Gainesville and WPB on channel 5.
I begged the owner of the property to get a directional antenna with a rotor; he almost never watched TV. :
I begged the owner of the property to get a directional antenna with a rotor; he almost never watched TV. :
trusty said:
I've been able to see Florida (VHF-lo) TV many times over my 40+ years of DX'ing. I've lived in the Boston area of Massachusetts on and off now for almost all of my life. The most common Florida TV's I have received here are WESH/2 Daytona Beach, WPBT/2 Miami, WEDU/3 Tampa-St. Petersburg, WJXT/4 Jacksonville, WTVJ/4 (now WFOR) Miami and WCIX/6 (now WTVJ) Miami. I actually saw the "hand-off" between WTHS/2 and WPBT/2 (Miami) during skip conditions during the summer of 1977. At that time, Channel 2 in Miami was shared-time allocation between the Miami-Dade Board of Education and and WPBT. Eventually what was WTHS moved to WLRN-TV (Channel 17) and WPBT took over the entire Channel 2 operation in 1978.
Over the years, I have received many Channel 2 stations around the country via skip, thanks in part to our local Channel 2 operation (WGBH-TV) being off-the-air until mid afternoon back in the summer months back in the 70's.
Florida FM's via skip to Massachusetts. you bet! Too many to name in this posting. While visiting Orlando a couple of years ago, I saw most of the Tampa/St. Pete VHF/UHF's quite well on my Color Watchman, even some of the LPTV's. Even some of the WPB stations made it through at times on I-Drive. I did notice some co-channel interference on Channel 2 between WPBT/Miami, WESH/Daytona Beach and WSB/Atlanta during daily trops. Of course when I return next June, the Walkman will be useless due to the migration to digital. And, I'm not about to bring a DTV converter and antenna on the plane to Florida. ;D
Cheers,
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts
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