Interesting "TV DX" Picture

Since we listed a television station QSL recently, Ron Henselman sent along a picture of a TV show from KHTV, channel 11 in Little Rock, AR in 1969.  Over the years, I too have experienced watching television from great distances ("DX") and I have a VHS tape somewhere, if it hasn't been thrown away, of Mexican TV stations I saw from Alabama about 20 years ago.

Here's Ron's explaination of the picture to follow:

"This is what KTHV looked like at Gary Wegener's house in Melrose Park, IL during 1969. It was a real trick to get this photograph because we had to wait for our local channel 11 to go off the air. Long distance TV reception is more likely on channels 2 through 6 due to their lower frequencies. Notice the interference in the photo caused by other stations operating on channel 11.

Since the digital transition last June, it is possible to receive Canadian and Mexican stations on channels 2 through 6 because they have not vacated those channels. One might also find some low power U.S. analog stations on those channels.

When our local Chicago stations made the transition to digital, I was tuning around channels 2 through 6 to see what I could view in the way of long distance reception. I received about five stations total from Florida, Louisiana and Texas. They were easily viewable because there weren't many other stations on the air causing interference. Some stations kept their analog transmitters on the air for a couple of days to guide viewers in the digital transition.

How many of our readers are happy with digital television? I, for one, am not."

Here is KTHV's current Internet address, for those who care:

http://www.todaysthv.com/

I am not happy with DTV at all, myself...it is very unreliable for us who live in "the sticks".  With ANY digital transmission, TV, cell phone or what-have-you, it is either "there", or it is "not".  Simple things like branches waving in the breeze can disrupt the incoming signal- and it doesn't have to be at your location, just somewhere along the way.

However bad it is, our government, in its "infinite wisdom" has stuck us with it, in the never-ending quest to get more money for the finite radio spectrum we do have.  Don't hold your breath, it won't get any better...and as systems start to age, as in anything, it'll get worse....

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)