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TV Channel Of The Week: Channel 2
- Thread starter nd2023
- Start date
As I've said, I have not watched analogue TV since I got HDTV, last Spring. But, when I did watch analogue TV, I received KNAZ-TV, Flagstaff, via tropo scatter, and I received several stations on Channel 2 via E-skip. As a matter of fact, my best analogue TV DX was on Channel 2-KTVI, St Louis (Fox 2). By the way, KNAZ-DT will be switched from Channel 22 to Channel 2 after the transition (http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=618181), so maybe I'll log their post-transition signal as well.
M
MotoMuzak
Guest
Where I live, Channel 2 is where KATU's NTSC broadcast is situated (blasts in *very strong* in my flat) so there really isn't much opportunity for any channel-2 DXing here, at least for now. I imagine after February of next year, there will be a LOT more opportunity for tropo or e-skip on 2 from Canada and Mexico, for a couple of years at least (as Canada doesn't plan a full NTSC kill-off until 2011 and Mexico isn't planning it for any time in the near future, from what I understand.)
;D Anybody care for an Enchilada and Corona during your hockey game? ;D
;D Anybody care for an Enchilada and Corona during your hockey game? ;D
Before I dropped my 27 year old VHF antenna, I got either Dayton or Terre Haute by rotating the antenna here in South Central Indiana. That was it...except during skip.
When I had my VHF/UHF combo antenna up, I would often see KTCA from Minneapolis on channel 2.
Now it's a bit rarer, but still comes in fairly often, at least in the summer.
I've also seen KGAN Cedar Rapids (at least tentatively), WBAY Green Bay, and the Thunder Bay, ON station, but all of those are extremely rare.
As for Es...I've made 28 Es loggings on Ch 2, which is probably less than most serious Midwest DX'ers (I hope to improve my totals next year, especially on ch4 and 5 where I'm SORELY lacking!). The most common is KPRC. Some of them (going from NW to NE) include CKAL-TV-1 Lethbridge, KTVQ Billings, KWGN Denver, KTVN Reno, KNAZ Flagstaff, KASA Santa Fe, KMID Midland, WBRZ Baton Rouge (common), WDIQ Dozier (common), WSB Atlanta, WCBD Charleston, WUND Dozier, KDKA Pittsburgh, WCBS New York, WGBH Boston, CFAP Quebec, and WLBZ Bangor.
Now it's a bit rarer, but still comes in fairly often, at least in the summer.
I've also seen KGAN Cedar Rapids (at least tentatively), WBAY Green Bay, and the Thunder Bay, ON station, but all of those are extremely rare.
As for Es...I've made 28 Es loggings on Ch 2, which is probably less than most serious Midwest DX'ers (I hope to improve my totals next year, especially on ch4 and 5 where I'm SORELY lacking!). The most common is KPRC. Some of them (going from NW to NE) include CKAL-TV-1 Lethbridge, KTVQ Billings, KWGN Denver, KTVN Reno, KNAZ Flagstaff, KASA Santa Fe, KMID Midland, WBRZ Baton Rouge (common), WDIQ Dozier (common), WSB Atlanta, WCBD Charleston, WUND Dozier, KDKA Pittsburgh, WCBS New York, WGBH Boston, CFAP Quebec, and WLBZ Bangor.
We lived about 45 mi W of Boston but on a hill where Ch 2 Boston was very strong. I enjoyed tropo reception on other stations but never was interested in E-skip. But Ch 2 was real strong. At night, after ch 2 Boston was put to bed, we would watch Ch 2 NYC from about 125+ miles away. Reception was weak, but reliable.
Ok, This goes back to 1961 or 62. I was living in Long Beach, Ca. at the time. Mount Wilson VHF's came in with rabbit ears but we were slightly shaded by a small peak called signal hill. For several days the Ch. 2 from Portland Or.(I can't remember the call letters at the time) came in over the Los Angeles signal. Definately the best TV DX I ever got.
Back in the summer of 95 or 96 I was getting some kick butt DX from Boston and Providence. I got nearly every channel VHF and UHF. I think I don't remember if I got WGBH or not because there's a very powerful local on 3 WFSB.
Once back in 97 or 98 when I was on vacation at my aunt's cottage in Niantic, Connecitcut, WGBH was on cable channel 2. When they signed off the air, WCBS boomed right in. It was snowy but it was in color and watchable.
Once back in 97 or 98 when I was on vacation at my aunt's cottage in Niantic, Connecitcut, WGBH was on cable channel 2. When they signed off the air, WCBS boomed right in. It was snowy but it was in color and watchable.
Well, back when I was a kid (gosh, 25+ years ago?), I was pretty active on TV DX.
I was blessed to live in a spot where 2 was clear -- great for Es. Over a few years, I got around 50 stations on 2, from Canada to El Salvador (which was pretty common, really). Longest was a clear double-hop from my home on the Mississippi Coast to Oakland, CA @~2000 miles. Oddly, it was all alone on-channel.
Most common? KWGN/Denver and KNOP/North Platte.
Here in Memphis, I get Miami quite a bit, and various Mexicans with regularity (Monterrey is common).
Of course, in a year, TV2 will be a vast wasteland.
DE
I was blessed to live in a spot where 2 was clear -- great for Es. Over a few years, I got around 50 stations on 2, from Canada to El Salvador (which was pretty common, really). Longest was a clear double-hop from my home on the Mississippi Coast to Oakland, CA @~2000 miles. Oddly, it was all alone on-channel.
Most common? KWGN/Denver and KNOP/North Platte.
Here in Memphis, I get Miami quite a bit, and various Mexicans with regularity (Monterrey is common).
Of course, in a year, TV2 will be a vast wasteland.
DE
For the time being, yes. Canada, though, has set an analog shutdown date, Aug. 31, 2011.
Many have speculated that with the US analogs gone, and few DTVs operating on low-band VHF, there will be a greater possibility of even double-hop Es into exotic locales like Latin America. This, we shall see.
DE
Many have speculated that with the US analogs gone, and few DTVs operating on low-band VHF, there will be a greater possibility of even double-hop Es into exotic locales like Latin America. This, we shall see.
DE
JeeperOne
Banned
Hi everyone:
Being in Denver as I am, I've heard that if skip conditions are just right, local KWGN can be seen as far away as places like Chicago. As such, considering that its transmitter (Both analog and digital) are both atop Lookout Mountain, I wonder just how far away have some of you been able to receive it (Both in analog and digital).
This ought to be interesting....
Cheers
Being in Denver as I am, I've heard that if skip conditions are just right, local KWGN can be seen as far away as places like Chicago. As such, considering that its transmitter (Both analog and digital) are both atop Lookout Mountain, I wonder just how far away have some of you been able to receive it (Both in analog and digital).
This ought to be interesting....
Cheers
Pat Cook said:
Denver is nearly ideally situated as a skip "target" - being within that "magic distance" of ~1,000 miles from both the West Coast and the Midwest.
Here in the Nashville area, not only have I seen KWGN, but I've also seen KCNC-channel 4 and KRMA-channel 6. KRMA is probably the most often seen, because I have local stations on channels 2 and 4.
I've also heard the Denver-licensed FM stations on 90.1, 95.7, 98.5, 99.5, 103.5, and 105.1. (as well as plenty of FMs licensed to various Denver suburbs and other Front Range cities)
I have similar conditions here in the Florida panhandle. Denver TV 2,4, & 6 and area FM stations are common E skip catches from 1180-1260 miles.
After the 2009 shutdown, analog TV2 stations such as YSR El Salvador, Mexicans, Nicaragua, and others as far as northern South America will likely be common catches into the USA. Considering how often double hop Es occurs at 50MHz. From here in Florida, California is so common on 6 meters in the summer it's almost uninteresting. Certainly their TV2's are in there too underneath KWGN Denver KACV Amarillo KASA Santa Fe, etc. that always seem to be stronger on single hop Es, masking the second hop. Only twice have I been able to identify a TV2 station beyond the 1 hop range and it was by audio only using a selective receiver, and pure luck that identifying information was received in the brief receptions. Others may have had better luck.
After the 2009 shutdown, analog TV2 stations such as YSR El Salvador, Mexicans, Nicaragua, and others as far as northern South America will likely be common catches into the USA. Considering how often double hop Es occurs at 50MHz. From here in Florida, California is so common on 6 meters in the summer it's almost uninteresting. Certainly their TV2's are in there too underneath KWGN Denver KACV Amarillo KASA Santa Fe, etc. that always seem to be stronger on single hop Es, masking the second hop. Only twice have I been able to identify a TV2 station beyond the 1 hop range and it was by audio only using a selective receiver, and pure luck that identifying information was received in the brief receptions. Others may have had better luck.
In North Carolina on several occasions during the summer, I've picked up stations from Louisiana and Texas. One of those times was shortly before Skylab fell to Earth in 1979.
Both here in New Britain, CT (southwest of Hartford) and Old Orchard Beach, ME in the mid-1980s, my two most common catches were either WPBT-TV (PBS) from Miami and/or WESH-TV (NBC) from Daytona Beach/Orlando. Channel 2 is also where I first saw an e-skip signal in 1986 (in O.O.B., ME): channel 2 from Charleston, SC. I thought it was channel 2 from up in Bangor (a car dealer's ad ruled out WGBH-TV from Boston). As soon as I saw the word "CHARLESTON", I lit up like a Christmas tree!
From Durham, NC, Greensboro's WFMY-TV is the dominant thing on channel 2 (and comes in like a local with a decent antenna), though UNC-TV (NC PBS statewide network)'s WUND-TV in Edenton, NC can ghost in from time to time, and I think I've received Charleston, SC's WCBD before. As for e-skip, I've gotten tons of channel 2's on there. The most memorable were WCBS-TV (when it was transmitting from the North Tower of the World Trade Center...I remember being amazed a signal was comig all the way from this landmark to my TV) and KPRC-TV in Houston, which was airing a live press conference of the Andrea Yates child drowning tragedy.
Even with a local station (WBBM-TV Chicago) about 30 miles away, I've logged many stations on channel 2. I posted a few video clips of stations I picked up in 1988 here: http://www.youtube.com/user/PhilJSmith67. I have another tape somewhere with clips from KTWO "K2" Casper, KTVQ "Q-2" Billings, WCBS New York, and crystal-clear clips of WGBH Boston and WESH Orlando, but it's packed away in storage.
My most surprising catch was back around 1983, while I was fixing a small black&white TV with a broken whip antenna in the basement. I just got the TV working when I reattached the broken whip which was about a foot long. The set was on channel 2 (the frequency that needs the longest antenna). I was getting the weather; a map of a vertically-rectangular state was on the screen. The weatherman was reading the temperatures in Celsius. Then it dawned on me, this was not a state, it was the province of Saskatchewan! On this humble TV, with I was getting CKCK (a.k.a. "CKTV") Regina, with no interference from my local Chicago station (thanks to being in the basement!). CKTV boomed into Monee, IL, for at least 15 minutes from exactly 1000 miles away.
My most surprising catch was back around 1983, while I was fixing a small black&white TV with a broken whip antenna in the basement. I just got the TV working when I reattached the broken whip which was about a foot long. The set was on channel 2 (the frequency that needs the longest antenna). I was getting the weather; a map of a vertically-rectangular state was on the screen. The weatherman was reading the temperatures in Celsius. Then it dawned on me, this was not a state, it was the province of Saskatchewan! On this humble TV, with I was getting CKCK (a.k.a. "CKTV") Regina, with no interference from my local Chicago station (thanks to being in the basement!). CKTV boomed into Monee, IL, for at least 15 minutes from exactly 1000 miles away.
Philip J. Smith said:
Strangely enough I had a similar experience a bit more than ten years earlier.
Our preacher knew I (age 12 at the time) was interested in electronics. So he gave me his old TV, figuring it would be an educational challenge to repair. (it was. Two *bizarre* problems.)
So, it looked like all the problems had been fixed & it was time to test the TV. Turned it on, let it warm up, went through the channels -- channel 12, OK; channel 10, OK; channel 6, OK; channel 4, OK; channel 2, OK. Channel **2**? There's no channel 2 in Milwaukee...
It was CKCK. (I don't think they were calling themselves "CKTV" yet) They were playing TV Bingo. Or *trying* to play TV Bingo. They had to give out their phone number on the air (so you could call in if you got B-I-N-G-O) but the lines were being jammed by curious Americans trying to figure out who this strange TV station was. As I recall they gave up on the bingo & just started acknowledging out-of-town phone calls.
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