OT: TV DXing in the digital age

[Ted Langdell]

Hot here in the mid Sacramento Valley North of our state capital about 40 miles…  such that the atmospherics at noon yesterday between San Francisco and Marysville enabled me to see several SF-based UHF and VHF Digital TV stations. 

It's 107.07 air miles from Sutro Tower to my antenna and 111.17 to San Bruno Mountain, the other major broadcast antenna site on the San Francisco peninsula.

The San Bruno Mountain towers are here with the Sutro Tower in the center of the picture in the distance. 
https://ssl.panoramio.com/photo/29875686

My "Suburban" aging Yagi is pointed essentially due south  to the antenna farm 62 miles away in the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta south of Sacramento. 

Take a Fybush tour here:
http://www.fybush.com/sites/2005/site-051111.html

The atmospherics did enable me to receive KXTV, virtual 10/digital 10, Sacramento which I normally can't see because it's VHF contour doesn't match its pre-cutoff UHF digital coverage or it's old analog contour.  😕

I have the same problem with Sacramento's PBS member station KVIE, formerly analog 6, which jumped from a UHF pre-transition digital to digital 9 when KQED signed off analog in San Francisco.  Nothing yesterday. 

Bay area stations visible included NBC owned KNTV, San Jose, Virtual 11/Actual 12 from Mt. San Bruno just south of the San Francisco and Fox owned KTVU, Virtual 2/Actual 44 from Sutro Tower in San Francisco. 

Several other Sutro-based UHFs were also “found” when I did an update-scan on the TV. Added 14 stations counting the sub channels. 

Here's KNTV's VHF digital in the middle of their newscast leading up to noon.






And here's KTVU's Channel 44 digital signal:




A rescan on this 46" Sony Bravia several months ago added KNTV, although at the time I couldn't actually see anything.

Scanning down the dial yesterday brought great surprise when KNTV showed up looking quite good and solid on it's main and sub channels.

That prompted poking around a bit entering different Bay Area RF or virtual channel numbers, and then the rescan. 

Was disappointed that we weren't able to see ABC on KGO – TV virtual/actual 7, which reverted to its former analog VHF assignment after the transition.

The weather conditions also improved reception from stations from the Chico-Redding market on the back side of my Yagi. 

One was the full power NBC affiliate on Ch. 24 out of Chico, and the other a 6 kW UHF LD on channel 22.

If the weather is hot in your area might be useful to rescan your digital receivers and see what you can pick up off the air.

Ted

Ted Langdell
Secretary, Quad Videotape Group
Ted at quadvideotapegroup.com
(530)301-2931

Dictated into and Sent from my iPhone, which is solely responsible for any weird stuff I didn't catch.

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