I might have picked this one up at that time with a rooftop antenna. I remember a lot of stations from that area causing interference.
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WHAT IS THE MOST DISTANT TV SIGNAL YOU EVER TUNED IN?
- Thread starter cheapman
- Start date
Probably not the farthest reported...I grew up in the foothills of Los Angeles, near Glendale - in the 1960's - prior to cable. The mountains blocked us from most of the LA stations, which had transmitters on Mt. Wilson. But San Diego stations - 145 miles away - came in clearly, most of the time - So in those days, they were KOGO Channel 10 (NBC), KFMB Channel 8 (CBS), and XETV Channel 6 (ABC). Also Channel 12 from Tijuana, the first Spanish language station I ever watched...Los Angeles didn't have one yet.
We could also occasionally get KEYT Channel 3 from Santa Barbara - about 90 miles in the other direction (north) which in those days, ran programming from all 3 networks.
We could also occasionally get KEYT Channel 3 from Santa Barbara - about 90 miles in the other direction (north) which in those days, ran programming from all 3 networks.
The Furthest TV signal I was able to get was KSBW8 in Monterey back in the early 1990's when I moved to Solano County. Solano County mainly gets its TV Signals from San Francisco and Sacramento but Monterey faint and it faded quickly in the Analog days,
In the 70s from my small hometown 80 miles north of Dallas, I received KNBC/4 for a few minutes. KDFW in Dallas was on the air but there was obvious interference, so I used the rotor to scan around and found KNBC fairly clear for a few minutes. About 1400 miles.
In the 80s, I lived in Tyler, Texas. There was no channel 2 nearby, but using rabbit ears from my apartment, I saw KTWO from Casper, Wyoming for a brief time. About 1,100 miles.
In the 80s, I lived in Tyler, Texas. There was no channel 2 nearby, but using rabbit ears from my apartment, I saw KTWO from Casper, Wyoming for a brief time. About 1,100 miles.
Newsmark:
E-skip on both of those. Again, I was too young to get on most of the analog U.S. TV skip. If we still had analog TV today, I'm sure my log would be large. The low-VHFs from southern California, Phoenix, Denver and North Platte were often reported by WA and BC DXers back in the day. Sometimes MB, ND, SD, sometimes western KS, sometimes NM.
E-skip on both of those. Again, I was too young to get on most of the analog U.S. TV skip. If we still had analog TV today, I'm sure my log would be large. The low-VHFs from southern California, Phoenix, Denver and North Platte were often reported by WA and BC DXers back in the day. Sometimes MB, ND, SD, sometimes western KS, sometimes NM.
I remember back in the 70's as a kid in CT, we would pick up a station in Miami, Florida. This only happened during May. Must have been some favorable atmospheric transmissions during that part of spring.
When we lived in unincorporated Decatur (east of Atlanta), we were able to get 4 (WFBC/NBC, now WYFF), 7 (WSPA/CBS) and 13 (WLOS/ABC) out of the Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville DMA, especially when it was cloudy. The NBC shows that WSB blacked out were readily available on ch. 4. WMAZ/ch. 13 (CBS) in Macon came in on occasion.
On a summer day in 1987 following an afternoon thunderstorm, WCCO/ch. 4 (CBS) in Minneapolis came in. On occasion, WSFA/ch. 12 (NBC) in Montgomery was seen as well.
On a summer day in 1987 following an afternoon thunderstorm, WCCO/ch. 4 (CBS) in Minneapolis came in. On occasion, WSFA/ch. 12 (NBC) in Montgomery was seen as well.
It must have been the early to mid 1970s that I picked up KOA-TV 4 Denver on the main TV at my parents' house in Portland. The signal was very steady but it never happened again. The station was airing, "Bowling for Dollars". This was on an unused channel. I once read that someone was watching TV in New York City and the program was suddenly replaced by a football game from Dallas!
From my parents home in Cheektowaga, NY, near Buffalo we could consistently
receive WHEN TV 5 from Syracuse using a dipole antenna in our breezeway.
Apparently the signal hit the block wall near the dipole and if in the correct
distance from the wall, WHEN would be weak but identifiable. When CBLT
moved from Rf 6 to Rf 5 around 1971, we lost the signal. The outdoor antenna
did not receive WHEN but overnight, when WGRZ 2 and WBEN 4 went off the air,
we could consistently receive Pittsburgh's stations on Rf 2 and Rf 4.
A few times we received Rf 3 from Wichita Falls, Tx.
receive WHEN TV 5 from Syracuse using a dipole antenna in our breezeway.
Apparently the signal hit the block wall near the dipole and if in the correct
distance from the wall, WHEN would be weak but identifiable. When CBLT
moved from Rf 6 to Rf 5 around 1971, we lost the signal. The outdoor antenna
did not receive WHEN but overnight, when WGRZ 2 and WBEN 4 went off the air,
we could consistently receive Pittsburgh's stations on Rf 2 and Rf 4.
A few times we received Rf 3 from Wichita Falls, Tx.
WPBT-TV (PBS) channel 2 of Miami. I received that station quite often in New Britain, CT via e-skip. It would sometimes fight with WESH-TV (NBC) channel 2 of Daytona Beach/Orlando. Another frequent visitor was WTVY-TV (CBS) channel 4 of Dothan, AL.
There's actually two different long distance propagation methods that come into play for these instances of receiving distant stations.
The first and more familiar to most people is e-skip, which is where the station's signal bounces off the ionosphere and comes back to the earth typically around a thousand miles away. This will occur at lower frequencies -- which means it occurs most often on TV channels 2 through 4, occasionally as high as channel 6, but never on channels 7 and above. The longest distance I've ever experienced this over was receiving KCKT-TV channel 2 from Great Bend, KS in Tacoma, WA in the late 70s.
The other means of long distance propagation is tropospheric ducting, wherein weather and atmospheric conditions cause the signal to duct along the ground instead of going up and being bounced down to the ground. Tropospheric ducting can occur at higher frequencies, and will typically be anywhere from a hundred to a few hundred miles. The longest distance I've ever gotten from tropospheric ducting was receiving KVEO channel 23 from McAllen, TX in Dallas back in the mid-eighties.
The first and more familiar to most people is e-skip, which is where the station's signal bounces off the ionosphere and comes back to the earth typically around a thousand miles away. This will occur at lower frequencies -- which means it occurs most often on TV channels 2 through 4, occasionally as high as channel 6, but never on channels 7 and above. The longest distance I've ever experienced this over was receiving KCKT-TV channel 2 from Great Bend, KS in Tacoma, WA in the late 70s.
The other means of long distance propagation is tropospheric ducting, wherein weather and atmospheric conditions cause the signal to duct along the ground instead of going up and being bounced down to the ground. Tropospheric ducting can occur at higher frequencies, and will typically be anywhere from a hundred to a few hundred miles. The longest distance I've ever gotten from tropospheric ducting was receiving KVEO channel 23 from McAllen, TX in Dallas back in the mid-eighties.
Actually, Eskip has been seen on channel 7 and above, but very very rarely in the analog TV days. Maybe less than 10 times. The super E-skip opening of July 6th, 2004 was one example. E-skip was noted as high as the 222 mhz amateur radio band. East Coast and Midwest had a nearly once-in-a-lifetime propagation event. There are YouTube clips showing a DXer in upstate NY getting color pics of WDAM-7 MS, and B&W on WVUE-8 LA, WTOK-11 MS and snippets of WLOX-13 MS from that opening. Mike Bugaj in CT had KATV-7 (in color!!) and a tentative KETG-9 (PBS) Arkadelphia AR. I believe it was NE's Matt Sittel that had WNCT-9 NC in that opening as well. It was an incredible opening that every DXer dreams about.
Great Bend to Tacoma is over 1300 miles, a nice catch. KCKT is now KSNC. Often I'll get KVGB-1590 at night when eastern conditions are hot, they get out really well.
Great Bend to Tacoma is over 1300 miles, a nice catch. KCKT is now KSNC. Often I'll get KVGB-1590 at night when eastern conditions are hot, they get out really well.
I live in central Connecticut. The farthest VHF high signal I ever received using an indoor antenna was WENH-TV (PBS) channel 11 of Durham, NH. Sometimes, New York City or Providence/New Bedford would pop in.
The most distant UHF signal I ever received? WBOC-TV (CBS) channel 16 of Salisbury, MD. That was on a humid summer night in 1988.
The most distant UHF signal I ever received? WBOC-TV (CBS) channel 16 of Salisbury, MD. That was on a humid summer night in 1988.
KENW ch. 3 Portales, NM on rabbit ears on a portable GE TV set from Pittsburgh, PA.
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