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phone man 25-Sep-2011 7:26 PM

DXing Holiday in central Ohio
 
I had a DXing holiday this morning with several new TV channels, all from the west and southwest of my location. The furthest came from Lexington KY, 208 miles. Others were from Cincinnati, Dayton, and the oddball was from Kokomo Indiana which is almost due west, 182 miles. I have not changed the position of my antenna. It's still pointed at 210 degrees.
These channels came in solidly from 8am thru 11am. I got curious about how this happens and found Bill Hepburn's tropo maps.
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html
The map for today clearly shows an increased chance of DX reception. I bookmarked the website and will keep an eye out for future tropo events.
What prompted me to do a scan was that I had no signal at all from ch 68.1 (real ch 12) from the north which I receive thru the back of my 4228HD antenna. This is normally a very solid channel that has no issues with drop out. Weird huh? A couple hours later it was coming back in again.
Sure reminds me of when I was a kid, playing with my uncle's shortwave radio and hearing foreign broadcasts for the first time.

John Candle 26-Sep-2011 6:03 AM

Tv Antennas and Reception
 
You are having great fun with the DXing. As you are finding out when the signal is in , it can be quite strong and last for hours. Skip , Tropo , Ground wave , reception is very interesting and a lot of fun. An even better antenna for DXing would be a Winegard HD7082P all channel antenna on a Channel Master CM9521A rotor. Or as you are finding out , the Ham radio equipment rotors are much more heavy duty rotors. Tv DXers that are all the way into it , use separate , UHF antennas , VHF high antennas and VHF low antennas. They are after the very elusive tv stations.

phone man 24-Nov-2011 4:27 AM

Another entertaining evening for DXing here in central Ohio without even trying. At 11p I noticed my local CBS station from Columbus, WBNS-10.1 was pixelating. Never seen that happen before. I checked other local stations and they were fine. I scanned for new channels just for fun and came up with some new ones from out of state!
All the Dayton Ohio channels were there. These do show up from time to time and I'm now familiar with their call signs. Approximate distance 98 miles.
A new station, Fox 56.1, WDKY from Lexington KY, 208 miles. Also new WPBO-HD from Portsmouth, OH, 122 miles. And finally the long distance jewel of the evening, a CW station WBXX ch-20.1 from Anderson county Tennessee just west of Knoxville, 319 miles.
The 4228HD antenna is aimed at about 210 degrees as always. I just checked the tropospheric forecast and sure enough it shows a chance of activity.
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html
Better stop playing with the TV and get to bed. I'll need all my strength to battle all that tryptophan tomorrow afternoon!

John Candle 24-Nov-2011 4:56 AM

Tv Reception with Tv antennas
 
Nice to read again that you are having fun with the DX.

phone man 25-Nov-2011 1:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Candle (Post 13922)
Nice to read again that you are having fun with the DX.

Hi John, You mentioned in your earlier post how strong the DX signals can be at times and that certainly was true last night. I was rather shocked to see SNR's in the mid 20's and up.
Tonight the shoe is on the other foot. I have weaker than normal signals on about half my local channels. A couple of them that are usually pretty solid are dropping out.
There's no way to do it right now but next spring I may set up another antenna as you suggested just for sniffing out far off stations.

phone man 19-Apr-2012 11:16 PM

They're here..........

No not that Carol Ann, new and far away TV stations are here. The first DXing in months here in central Ohio. Early this morning I saw the telltale signs, very strong signals from low powered Columbus stations means it's time to scan for new channels.
A fresh scan produced...

WTRF ch7 Wheeling WV
WOWK ch13 Huntington WV
WDKY ch56 Lexington KY

The Lexington station I've seen before and normally when I can get it, the stations from Dayton and/or Cincinnati are there as well. Not so this time, only WDKY. But, it's signal strength and SNR was huge. Reception finally faded away around 10am.
Wheeling and Huntington I've never seen before so score two new ones.

Electron 20-Apr-2012 11:57 PM

Tv antennas and Tv reception
 
Very good , those long distance receptions are interesting. Do you go to the DX web sites and see those real long distance receptions?? There are some serious DXers that realy get into it. You can get right in there rub elbows. Those DX web sites can help with getting screen captures and you can post them here for every one to look at , back when , it was actual pictures of the tv screen with a camera.

phone man 21-Apr-2012 12:34 AM

Yes, I've seen those screen shots with the station ID for proof. For now I just keep a log but I make sure I get some kind of verification before I write it down. All those local news programs in the morning make it pretty easy to know what station you're viewing. Late at night it's a little harder to catch an ID.
I think I'd feel more like investing in some DXing equipment if I wasn't in a valley with a big series of hills to the north. The 2nd highest point in the state is 12 miles north. Imagine all the possibilities from there!


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