I miss DX'ing TV stations

[Mr Tony]

new log last night

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

 

[localclassictvfan]

I got you all beat. Every 3 to 4 months i get lucky to pick up just about every one in Houston. They stay on for at least a week. Sometimes a month. 203 miles away

 

[iafirebuff]

I have been enjoying stations from 5 states (IA, MN, WI, IL, MO). I LOVE IT!!!!

 

[Mr Tony]

so got bored last night and climbed up on the roof with the 8 bay. Started playing to find the "sweet spot" of stations that werent from Minneapolis proper (most satellite/translator stations nearby are from there). Aimed it SW and found the perfect spot (at least last night) to get both 42 (KSAX ABC) and 26 (K48IF) which is Fox. The issue around here is you pretty much need a rotor.
Aim SW and maybe get 42, 22 is decent (PBS full power), 26 is spotty and 16 (analog) is real bad
Aim it maybe 10 degrees more west then 26 comes in great, 16 is better, 22 is good but you either drop 42 or its real spotty
Aim it west and 16 & 22 are great but 26 is hit and miss. Makes no sense as 16 & 26 are on same tower

Anywho did a scan on the TV and grabbed THREE analog stations and also a 3ABN mux from Little Falls (K18GF). Its 48 miles away but it transmits at a mind blowing blow torch of 155 WATTS at 215 feet

some pics.
KCCW CBS 12 which is odd as the antenna is facing SW and 12 (which is on RF12) is NW of here some 60 miles)
The 155 watt blowtorch (it was stable the whole hour I was playing with the setup)
Something you dont see everyday...3 analog OTA channels
The real fuzzy pic is channel 49 in Little Falls. Had Dr Ooz on at the time (its a Fox 9 translator)

 

[Mr Tony]

also bagged KDLH from Duluth which is considered "tropo" on the tvfool
(Couldnt get KBJR though.....WDIO and WDSE are on VHF)

 

[iafirebuff]

Time for a rotor

 

[Mr Tony]

Need to move first.
The antenna is normally mounted on the deck aimed at Minneapolis. The roof thing was just a "got bored so lets see" thing. We just put a new roof on last year so don't want to put new holes in it

Plus 26 (K48IF) is a translator so during the day its hit and miss to begin with. 42 is way down on the tvfool (post 31). Its like -20 but came in great at night.

 

[iafirebuff]

Always a fun thing to do! My antenna is top of my 40' toer so I like to spin it around and hunt for dx stations

 

[Mr Tony]

I'd love to have a tower setup. Then I could really get the antennas to pick up stuff

 

[iafirebuff]

I put up a 40' tower for my amateur radio antennas. But I put a long range tv antenna and rotor on the top I got lucky - a friend of mine does tower work and I traded him some stuff for a tower AND the install!

 

[iafirebuff]

I got a Sioux Falls SD CW station the other day. That makes 6 states now

 

[the mack]

Thursday at my cabin in Fenton, MI, I rescanned my 722k and received channel 5 from Green Bay. At least 200 miles away. Had it for several hours.

I really miss when I received ALL the out of area locals via satellite. Back when it was a "hobby"

 

[Mr Tony]

Time for a rotor

picking one up tomorrow from a guy for $25
brand new

Antennacraft (like what Radio Shack sold)

 

[Mr Tony]

The Insignia converter box that Best Buy sold has the same innerds as the DTT901. It has the same great sensitivity and works the same way where you can specifiy stations your want to receive manually without scanning. I have one that I bought with a coupon 6 years ago and it's still working fine.

I picked up TWO of them this past weekend at 2 goodwill's in the Minneapolis suburbs
total cost for both? Under $15

neither have a remote but I have my zenith remote

 

[iafirebuff]

picking one up tomorrow from a guy for $25
brand new

Antennacraft (like what Radio Shack sold)

 

[iafirebuff]

Good deal!

This is the antenna I have - I SWEAR by it!

http://www.dennysantennaservice.com/hd_stacker_tv_antenna-html.html

 

[Mr Tony]

So with the rotor set up I decided to see what all I could get. This is all just UHF as my VHF is set for CBS 12 (KCCW)

NE towards Duluth got
33 (3) KDLH CBS (CW)
19 (6) KBJR NBC (MY)
17 (21) KQDS FOX

Then started moving it East and grabbed
24 (20) WHRM PBS Wausau, WI

Then hit Eau Claire
38 (13) WEAU NBC (Wx, Antenna)
15 (18) WQOW ABC (CW, This)
27 (28) WHWC PBS
49 (48) WEUX FOX (Me)

The got the usual Minneapolis aimed South
34 (2) PBS
32 (4) CBS (Decades)...same as KCCW 12
35 (5) ABC (H&I)
29 (9) FOX (My, Movies!)
22 (23) CW (Get, Grit)
40 (41) ION
45 (5-2) IND (Antenna, Me, This)

Also got 36 (6) KAAL Austin, MN and the low powered 3ABN in Mpls (33)
Also grabbed my "locals" 42 KSAX ABC, 28 (22) KAWB PBS and 48 (26) K48IF FOX (My, movies!) by aiming WSW

So all and all its nice having a rotor

Here is what the Zenith showed this afternoon (the 26 with no title is the low powered FOX translator). This was a clean slate when I started. All that was in there was 12

 

[iafirebuff]

NIce!!!!!! I just bought a Tivo Roamio for OTA the other day. I finally got the wife convinced to drop cable Bought an apple tv for hbo and showtime. So we are all set

 

[osu1991]

You'll love the Roamio. Bought 3 Roamios and 3 minis myself, a few months ago. Best thing I've bought in a long time.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk

 

[iafirebuff]

Yes they are sweet! The tuner is more sensitive than the one in the tv