I miss DX'ing TV stations

[pamajestic]

Make sure it's a DTT901 and not a DTT900. The 900's were prone to an audio problem. I have 3 of the DTT901's.

The audio problem is a concern if you watch TV long term using a converter box, but for DXing a DTT900 with a Sanyo tuner is a tad bit more sensitive than the DTT901 with a LG tuner.

 

[Radioguy41]

The 900 uses an LGDT1111D tuner while the 901 uses the LGDT1111T tuner, which gave it pass-thru capability. This has been confirmed by people opening up the boxes. Where did you get your information about a Sanyo tuner?

 

[jegrant]

Technically I have the Insignia box myself, but yeah it's all the same guts as the "good" Zenith unit. I wish the DTVPal (TR40) had such a good tuner.
My previous DXing (Chicago last winter) was actually on a Magnavox SDTV OTA DVR from Wal*mart dot com.

 

[kofi123]

KIMT Mason CIty, IA which are probably 150 miles away (whats crazy is there is a RF42 that is closer and KIMT "beat it up"

Surprised me too the first time I saw it, but this is actually a routine a routine occurrence during north-south oriented band openings in central Minnesota. KSAX's 80 kW just can't match KIMT's 400 kW when conditions are right. Actually, the analog KSAX translator in Brainerd is fed with KSAX's OTA signal, and occasionally when KIMT starts coming in strong, the KSAX signal on the translator will start breaking up due to the interference. Sometimes the interference will wipe the KSAX signal out completely, in which case a "no signal" message that looks exactly like the one that appears on the Zenith box you are using pops up on the screen in place of the KSAX programming.

 

[pamajestic]

Where did you get your information about a Sanyo tuner?

Personal experience and it was discussed on some forums years ago either AVS or Worldwide TV/FM DX association. Here is picture of a 900 with the Sanyo tuner. Not all 900’s had the Sanyo tuner, there were also some with the LG tuner. I don’t know if the pass thru on the 901’s reduced the sensitivity of the tuner on not, but the Sanyo is better as tested by me and others.

 

[Radioguy41]

Those Sanyos were in the initial production run and were phased out early on in favor of the LG which is why it didn't ring a bell. If I remember correctly the rev date on the board with a Sanyo is late 2007 (Nov/Dec?). By early 2008 the change was made and the rev dates reflected that. By the way, later DTT900 units (Mar-April 2008) had fixed the right channel audio problem but still had a problem with volume differences between mono and stereo input. In April 2008 the DTT901 was released with a new chip that fixed it all. I'll take your word that the Sanyos are more sensitive but that hasn't been my experience with any Sanyo tuner.

Right now I'm operating 3 digital tuners; DTT901, Homeworx HW-150PVR, and a Zenith Bravia. The first 2 scan the exact same number of channels (67) but the Zenith falls a couple short of that.

 

[Mr Tony]

Surprised me too the first time I saw it, but this is actually a routine a routine occurrence during north-south oriented band openings in central Minnesota. KSAX's 80 kW just can't match KIMT's 400 kW when conditions are right. Actually, the analog KSAX translator in Brainerd is fed with KSAX's OTA signal, and occasionally when KIMT starts coming in strong, the KSAX signal on the translator will start breaking up due to the interference. Sometimes the interference will wipe the KSAX signal out completely, in which case a "no signal" message that looks exactly like the one that appears on the Zenith box you are using pops up on the screen in place of the KSAX programming.

good to know

 

[riffjim4069]

I miss DX'ing too. I guess I could still do with the build-in TV and Tivos...but I don't have much use to these days. Back in the day I loved DX'ing using my Mitsubishi CRT RPTV and Voom boxes..used to get TV stations from 100-miles away at night, and up to 170-miles away under the right tropospheric conditions.

 

[Mr Tony]

here are some pics from 3 years ago when I had my house and 3 antennas on the roof
including KOLN & KLKN from Lincoln, Nebraska

http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/nice-tropo-last-night-here-in-minneapolis.288020/

 

[BM10K]

I found one off those Insignia boxes at a thrift store for 5 bucks, so I bought it. hoping that dx'ing with it will do well here in Fargo

 

[Mr Tony]

Sunday night was an other good night. Got those low powered stations again (25 & 33)
Also got KSAX 42 when I aimed the antenna SW

Tonight (humid as hell) aimed it almost due west and got
42 KSAX (and subs)...really strong
22 (PBS and subs)
26 (the LP translator with FOX and My...its on 48)
39 analog FOX

so hooked it up to the Tivo series 3 (that has the zip for up here....The Roamio has Minneapolis) and recorded some stuff. Will get pics up later
And most of Minneapolis came in with it aimed a smidge SSE

here is my tv fool. The KSAX station is at 80k watts and 88 miles away (its way down on the tvfool)

 

[Mr Tony]

so last night hooked up the Zenith box to see what could get. Nice night but not humid. Did a simple scan and got 48 channels....hmmmm
Got the normal ones (full powered UHF) but some that popped up shocked me

Got RF9 & 11 nice and strong. I am using a 8 bay UHF antenna and yeah I know it **CAN** get VHF....but at 90 miles away????
Logged the following low powered stations
KJNK 25 Telemundo
K33LN 33 3ABN
K16HY 16 EWTN
WUMN 17 Univision
WDMI 31 (62) Daystar

But the one that floored me was 48 out of Minneapolis. Its a Cornerstone affiliate. Why did it floor me? When I lived in Minneapolis I could barely get it and I was 30 miles away. Now I'm 90 miles away and it came in fine. But to the west of me 26 miles is the Fox translator (K48IF) that is 3rd on the tvfool report

Weird thing is the Tivo couldnt lock 9,11,17,48 or 31(62)

 

[Radioguy41]

Pretty darn good tuner in those Zenith boxes, huh?

 

[Mr Tony]

yup

 

[Mr Tony]

some pics

 

[Mr Tony]

got KIMT (RF42 PSIP 3) and KAAL (36/6) this afternoon
It tries to lock a RF20 which the only thing I can think is KSMQ (PBS for the Rochester, MN market) but not strong enough to lock.

 

[spongella]

Another fun thing to try when TV DX'ing is to turn on Closed Captioning and see if it works for the DX station.

 

[Mr Tony]

It tries to lock a RF20 which the only thing I can think is KSMQ (PBS for the Rochester, MN market) but not strong enough to lock.

just had to wait a little longer

last night about 11:30PM locked the following (as in the Zenith showed the callsign)
RF49 (48) WEUX FOX Eau Claire, WI
RF38 (13) WEAU NBC Eau Claire
RF46 (47) KXLT FOX Rochester, MN
RF27 (28) WHWC PBS Menominee (Eau Claire) WI
RF20 (15) KSMQ (PBS Austin/Albert Lea/Rochester, MN

cant upload pics...not enough data left on this months plan...maybe in a couple days

 

[Mr Tony]

new log last night

W24CL which is a Wisconsin Public TV translator in Grantsburg, WI (70 miles away)
all of 1500 watts

 

[Mr Tony]

pics