Hi! New here + 1950s DX Photos...

[Hawkwind]

Been enjoying the posts in the TV groups for awhile now and thought I should introduce myself.

I'm basically a TV DXer (FM too) but love to see and read about old TVs.

Pretty much stopped watching network prime time television back in 1977.

Got into Laserdiscs in 1985 and DVDs in 2000.

I have an old Sony TV that might be considered rare, a KX-M270.

Anyway, I had a co-worker whos father-in-law was a TV DXer in the 1950s and he photographed his DX and I got to scan those photos and I like to share them with everyone!

1950s UHF IDs and Test Patterns...

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c4...s%20and%20TPs/

1950s VHF Eskip IDs and Test Patterns...

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c4...0IDs%20andTPs/

1950s Providence/Boston area IDs and Test Patterns...

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c4...0IDs%20andTPs/

1950s VHF Tropospheric Ducting IDs and Test Patterns...

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c4...0IDs%20andTPs/

Plus here is a pic of WJAR Channel 10 Providence Rhode Island seen in Illinios May 1961 by a DXer I have not
been able to ID yet...

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c4...ois_5_1961.jpg

If the links don't work just go to the photobucket site and search for Hawkwind02054.

And I'm a member of the WTFDA http://www.wtfda.org/ A web site for TV Dxers...

[Sandy G]

Always wondered- How DO you DX TV ? Welcome to AK ! Lotsa TV & radio guys here.

[bgadow]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed DXing as a kid-we had a decent outdoor antenna then & I would stay up late/get up early and catch what I could. I think the best I ever did from MD was CT, though I don't recall the station. I really need to get my act together and try it again before analog dies.

[Dan Starnes]

Welcome, and really cool stuff you shared with us. Thanks!!
Dan

[Celt]

Very cool! The WMCT 5 Memphis News slide brought back some pleasant memories for me. They're still around and a NBC affiliate.
The T was dropped a long time ago...so they're WMC TV5.

[Tubejunke]

What is a "DXer"? Just wondering.

I was thinking how I'm 38 so I remember the test patterns of the 70's and 80's. The old fashioned circular designs were still around in some places but eventually most stations went to that color bar thing (how boring).

Anyway in remembering this I am wondering if TV even ever stops at all anymore. Think about it. Even after the network signs off most stations turn into all news or infomercial until morning local news. I don't think TV ever ends anymore.

I guess the powers dont want to waste all that time broadcasting a more or less useless image for hours on end. Time is $$. I always wondered why they didnt just fade to black after the good old National Anthem. I miss those days...

[Eric H]

Hi Hawkwind, welcome to AK.
Those pictures are great!!

[speedy22]

Hawkwind....now that is cool. Brings back memories from way before I became a ham radio operator in 1966. It was probably late 50's and I remember vividy TV DXing with my Dad. With nothing but the rabbit ears on top of the set I recall seeing stations particularly from Texas and Oklahoma.
'58/'59 marks the best sunspot peak on record but we didn't know anything about that sort of thing at the time. Your pics are really cool and very interesting. Another thing that will be only a memory after analog is gone...too bad really but time marches on.

[OvenMaster]

Holy Smokes! WWLP, WHYN, WHCT, WKNB... all from the time when my parents were kids in their 20's!!! I'll have to ask if they saw any of those!

THANK YOU and welcome to AK!!!

Tom

[Boobtubeman]

Ah the good ole days when they ran movies at night and i used to get up at 5am to await the test patterns from stations start ups, i used to calibrate my tvs to them.. I remember DXing. Got some nevada channels once and a bakersfield channel 11. As they started building around me, my reception started to be affected. I remember being a kid living out in the country and my dad being able to suck in alot of channels on an old philco.

Then came the 80s and the FCC opened the flood gates for infomercials. These networks make me laugh. They dont endorse the products or the claims made, but they'll sure as hell palm the money and turn a blind eye to the most outrageous 30 mins of lies, hehehehehe

Steve

[Randy Bassham]

In the early 70's I was delivering a new Magnavox Color Set to a home in the Bootheel of Missouri. I hooked it up to their antenna which was pointed South to pick up Memphis stations. When I turned on the set and started going through the channels I was picking up a station on channel 2 in Spanish, after we watched it a few minutes I finally figured out it was Havana Cuba. I used to TV DX when I was a kid at home, the best I ever did from Southeast Missouri was Billings Montana.

[matt_s78mn]

Originally Posted by speedy22

Another thing that will be only a memory after analog is gone...too bad really but time marches on.

I don't know if I'd say that. TV DXing will still be around, it'll just be done differently with ATSC than with analog. Just do a Google search, you'll find pages from people who have DX'ed digital TV, such as this:

http://pages.cthome.net/fmdx/hdtv.html

http://www.wtfda.org/index.php?optio...=106&Itemid=53

[wa2ise]

"DX" is ham radio lingo for "Long Distance" reception. meaning outside of the broadcast station's intended market area in this context.
BTW, WWOR TV is now channel 9 in NYC, or more precisely Secauus NJ. They used to be WOR TV, but there was some silly scandal and the FCC made the owner sell it, and give NJ its only VHF channel. They still transmit from the Empire State Building in NYC.

These pictures look to show pretty good signal to noise, but a photographic film camera set at a long exposure would tend to intergrate out the noise and build up signal.
And WNET is now NYC's educational channel 13

[Hawkwind]

I'd like to try answer 2 questions here.

"Always wondered- How DO you DX TV ?"

Before and to some extent after the Internet I would check channels that don't have stations on the air
and see if anything far away was coming in. Sometimes if I was spinning the dial and skinny lines on nearby

channels, that would tell me that conditions are open and I'd spin the antenna west and see if anything is

coming in on 2 through 69.

Also it's known that tropo is best in the spring and fall and that summer is good for Eskip.

Now with the internet I'm on a mailing list with other Dxers and they ost alerts if they see DX.

Here is a good web page that predicts tropo conditions:

http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html

Web page is maintained by a fellow WTFDA member.

"What is a "DXer"? Just wondering."

Someone who enjoys getting far away signals throughout the radio spectrum.

Other than TV FM, I've DXed LW, MW, SW, VHF-Low, VHF-High and UHF with a communication receiver and a scanner.

And finally, heres a great web page that gives the histories of defunct UHF TV Stations including WWOR-14 and
WNET-16:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olym...14/morgue.html

Also maintained by a fellow WTFDA member...

[Celt]

Here are several in succession.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkbghBLIll0