October Tropo

[NN2E]

10-1-09
#332 WJHL 11 Johnson City, TN. 350 mi.
This one was all by itself. It stayed around for several hours.

10-5-09
#333 WTTK 29 Kokomo, IN. 245 mi.
Left the DTV box sitting on this one all day. Checked back in the late afternoon and there it was.

10-19-09
#334 KAQY 11 Columbia, LA. 390 mi.
#335 WNTZ 49 (48) Natchez, MS. 405 mi.

10-20-09
#336 WMAU 18 (17) Bude, MS. 395 mi.
#337 WMPN 20 (29) Jackson, MS. 340 mi.
#338 WTVM 11 (9) Columbus, GA. 370 mi.
#339 WCOV 20 Montgomery, AL. 335 mi.
#340 WTCI 29 (45) Chattanooga, TN. 210 mi. FINALLY!
I've had the DTV box sitting on channel 29, looking for WTCI, for 100 hours or more. When WTCI was on analog channel 45 it could be seen ANY time.

10-21-09
#341 WPTD 16 Dayton, OH. 300 mi.
#342 WRGT 30 (45) Dayton, OH.
#343 WGSA 35 Baxley, GA. 495 mi.
#344 WSAV 39 (3) Savannah, GA. 520 mi.
The 19th through 21st opening started during the afternoon of the 19th. KTVE 27 (10) El Dorado, AR. 340 mi. was the first of many to show up.
This opening eventually covered AL, AR, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MO, MS, OH, TN. LOTS of re-logs from all of these States.

10-26-09
#345 WGNO 26 New Orleans, LA. 480 mi.
#346 KGLA 42 Hammond, LA. 455 mi.
#347 WNOL 15 (38) New Orleans, LA.
#348 WKRG 27 (5) Mobile, AL. 425 mi.
KAQY, WDBD, and WMAU turned up, again.

10-27-09
#349 WTWC 40 Tallahassee, FL. 500 mi.
#350 WTXL 27 Tallahassee, FL.
#351 WVTM 13 Birmingham, AL. 250 mi.
Lots of re-logs from AL, GA, MS.
Had a channel 29.1 show up with no ID. At 3:45 AM CDT it was running an infomercial for the "Ab Circle." It faded out before the top of the hour. (#$%&*!) Beam heading, and other stations coming in at the time, would make WBIH Selma, AL. my best guess. Has anyone seen WBIH?

10-28-09
#352 WAKA 42 (8) Selma, AL. 340 mi.
#353 WDHN 21 (18) Dothan, AL. 425 mi.
#354 WMCF 46 (45) Montgomery, AL. 330 mi.
#355 WCFT 33 Tuscaloosa, AL 260 mi.
#356 WAPT 21 (16) Jackson, MS. 335 mi.
#357 WMAB 10 (2) Mississippi State, MS. 245 mi.
#358 WJSP 23 (28) Columbus, GA. 345 mi.
#359 WLGA 47 (66) Opelika, AL. 340 mi.
#360 WPBA 21 (30) Atlanta, GA. 310 mi.
Lots of regulars from AL, AR, GA, MO, MS, VA.
That #$&*! un-ID 29.1 is back again. At 7:05 PM CDT it's a "Swivel Sweeper" infomercial.

10-29-09
#361 WTVC 9 Chattanooga, TN. 210 mi.
#362 WAGA 27 (5) Atlanta, GA. 310 mi.
#363 WTOC 11 Savannah, GA. 520 mi.
#364 WDEF 12 Chattanooga, TN.
#365 WBRC 50 (6) Birmingham, AL. 250 mi.
#366 WLTZ 35 (38) Columbus, GA. 360 mi.
#367 WANN-LD 29 (32) Atlanta, GA.
Channel 9 is not an easy one to DX with WQWQ-LP, 17 miles away, clogging things up.
WAGA lasted for about 10 seconds before WKRN covered it up.

Modified Finco P-7 UHF at 45 ft.
Antennacraft CS-1100 VHF at 40 ft.
Alliance HD-73 rotor
Channel Master 7777 pre-amp
3/4 inch cable TV hardline
Zenith DTT-901 DTV box
9 inch B&W monitor

73, Ed NN2E
Owner / Operator - Murphy's Law Test Site & Thunderstorm Proving Grounds

[NN2E]

#368 WBIH 29 Selma, AL. 340 mi.
After a few days worth of answering machine tag I finally talked to someone at WBIH. We compared notes on programming and determined it was WBIH I was seeing. They are aware that there is a problem with their PSIP and should have it resolved in early November.

73, Ed NN2E
Owner / Operator - Murphy's Law Test Site & Thunderstorm Proving Grounds

[LMolineux]

so explain how your using this Digital To Analog converter to decode these channels, like if your clearing the memory or just leaving it sit on a certain channel and just waiting? And if your lveaving it sit on a channel and it decodes the PSIP or channel data, and you just leave it sit there, will if another channel that is on there comes on or in will it just write over the channel PSIP info?

[NN2E]

Auto-tune...
The Zenith DTT-901 converter box does a pretty good job of finding stations in the "Auto Tuning" mode. Once the auto-tune has finished I go to the "Channel Edit" mode to have a look at what the box has found. I can quickly look through the list to see if anything new has turned up. If I spot something new I'll go to the "Manual Tuning" mode to see what channel the new one is actually being transmitted on. In the case of WAGA and WKRN...I had done an auto-tune, gone to the channel edit mode, and spotted "5-1 WAGA..." on the list. I went to the manual mode to see that it was really channel 27. While I was writing this info in my notes I saw the "DTV 5-1 WAGA..." disappear from the display and be replaced by "DTV 2-1 WKRN..."
Manual tune...
I'll go to the manual tune mode, park the box on a channel where I'm looking for a new one, and let it sit there. This is how WTTK was found. This is also how I found this last opening. I had the box parked on channel 10 (looking for K10KM) and when I checked it I found "DTV 10-1 KOLR..." so I started looking around.
73, Ed NN2E
Owner / Operator - Murphy's Law Test Site & Thunderstorm Proving Grounds