Best/Strangest DX catches

[Colly0410]

Back in the late 60's when England still used VHF for TV I was trying to watch BBC1 on channel 4 (low band) from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter about 40 miles away, the picture was obliterated by co-channel interference from European stations via sporadic E. I tried other channels & on ch 3 (I think) a strange snowy picture appeared with no sound, it was 2 elongated pictures side by side with a black line down the middle. This was a 405 lines TV set & the only station in the world that used that system on low band was BBC1. I carried on watching & an ident came on, it was ORTF from France. France used 819 lines on low band & 819 is just over double 405, that would explain the black line down the middle. When the 625 lines low band Euro stations came in the 405 lines TV's couldn't resolve a picture & the screen was just a pulsating mess.

I very often get European FM radio stations coming in, even in perfect stereo. When I was in Hastings on the south coast last year there was as many French as English stations on the FM band..

[zeno]

In the old TV DXer times some over hear had multi mode sets.
Europe was often seen. IIRC it takes 2 long sporadic E hops
to make it. Also on AM at the coast Euro, Africa &
the Mid-East stations are common at sundown. You do need a
tunable radio to get the 9 K splits used in Europe.

73 Zeno
LFOD !

Originally Posted by Colly0410

Back in the late 60's when England still used VHF for TV I was trying to watch BBC1 on channel 4 (low band) from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter about 40 miles away, the picture was obliterated by co-channel interference from European stations via sporadic E. I tried other channels & on ch 3 (I think) a strange snowy picture appeared with no sound, it was 2 elongated pictures side by side with a black line down the middle. This was a 405 lines TV set & the only station in the world that used that system on low band was BBC1. I carried on watching & an ident came on, it was ORTF from France. France used 819 lines on low band & 819 is just over double 405, that would explain the black line down the middle. When the 625 lines low band Euro stations came in the 405 lines TV's couldn't resolve a picture & the screen was just a pulsating mess.

I very often get European FM radio stations coming in, even in perfect stereo. When I was in Hastings on the south coast last year there was as many French as English stations on the FM band..

[zenith2134]

Those multisystemsets were great into the eighties. Had a JVC with pal/secam/ntsc with a Toshiba jug from '84..Nice, bright pix.. shame I didn't attempt DX'n on it at the time.

I often switch on my old sets with an aerial. Only to " check " on possible xmissions. It is interesting to note the apparent celltower signals in the form of banded-lines, in the now occupied band of Ch. 69 + up..