There's an interesting thread on this board about the good old days of AM DX, when most channels were a lot clearer. Well now could be the "good old days" for analog TV DX, as all or most of channels 2-6 for E-Skip DX are now clear in most areas, leaving a wide open band for foreign TV DX.
This evening (5/29), between 6:30pm and 7:00, I was getting weak reception of a Spanish language station on channel 3, with clear CANTV logo a little after 6:30. Cantv is not a TV station, but a VENEZUELAN telephone company. Also, I'm pretty sure I heard Caracas mentioned a couple of times. This leads me to believe I may well have had Venezuela on channel 3, although Caracas doesn't have a channel 3. The most powerful channel 3 is from the Barcelona, VZ area, a little over 2250 miles from my DX location in Poughkeepsie, NY, and other channel 3's in Venezuela are at comparable distances. Prime double-hop distance. I don't know which station I actually got, but one of the Venezuelan channel 3's is quite likely. This would be my first VHF reception of any kind from another continent. I also had traces of signals on channels 2 &4, but couldn't do much with them. By the way, I use a very simple 5-element antenna, just 10 feet above the ground.
Those of you near the Gulf of Mexico are with-in single-hop distance of a number of countries, and many more are possible through double-hop reception. Don't miss this great DX opportunity! This spring I've already received Cuba, Canada, and likely Venezuela, and it's only May!
This evening (5/29), between 6:30pm and 7:00, I was getting weak reception of a Spanish language station on channel 3, with clear CANTV logo a little after 6:30. Cantv is not a TV station, but a VENEZUELAN telephone company. Also, I'm pretty sure I heard Caracas mentioned a couple of times. This leads me to believe I may well have had Venezuela on channel 3, although Caracas doesn't have a channel 3. The most powerful channel 3 is from the Barcelona, VZ area, a little over 2250 miles from my DX location in Poughkeepsie, NY, and other channel 3's in Venezuela are at comparable distances. Prime double-hop distance. I don't know which station I actually got, but one of the Venezuelan channel 3's is quite likely. This would be my first VHF reception of any kind from another continent. I also had traces of signals on channels 2 &4, but couldn't do much with them. By the way, I use a very simple 5-element antenna, just 10 feet above the ground.
Those of you near the Gulf of Mexico are with-in single-hop distance of a number of countries, and many more are possible through double-hop reception. Don't miss this great DX opportunity! This spring I've already received Cuba, Canada, and likely Venezuela, and it's only May!