TV-DX

October 24, 2009 -- Since the national conversion from analog to digital TV, we have all had to scan and rescan for channels as the broadcast TV stations have upgraded and adjusted their transmitting equipment. Early this morning I rescanned and noticed I was picking up stations out of my viewing area, in Fort Myers and Orlando. I decided to take photos and post them here.

Location: I am located in Bradenton, Florida in zip code 34209. This is south of St. Petersburg, and north of Sarasota. I can receive all the Tampa Bay TV digital TV stations, which are 33 miles away in Riverview for most of them. The Tampa CBS station transmitter is 47 miles away in Holiday.

My equipment: Unlike others on the internet who have elaborate towers, giant custom antenna, and high frequency amplifiers, my equipment is rather pedestrian. I have an amplified antenna about the size of a pizza dish from Radio Shack (15-2187, $60) that is mounted to a stud in my attic. I have 100-feet of RG-9 coaxial cable from WalMart ($20) connecting the antenna to the Sharp digital TV in the living room. The antenna is supposed to pick up signals from all directions, but the front of it should be aimed at the signals you most want to receive. You can read about how I aimed this antenna at this site.

Photography: I simply used a small Nikon digital pocket camera in the "all purpose" mode. You can see the reflection of the flash. I may experiment with turning the flash off for these screen shots in the future.

Orlando: Here are photos of channels 9.1 / 9.2 (WFTV), 18.1 / 18.2 / 18.3 (WKCF), and 40.1 / 40.2 / 40.3 (WACX). The distance from my house to the stations:

WFTV = 123 miles (UHF 39)

WKCF = 121 miles (UHF 17)

WACX = 121 miles (UHF 40)

Fort Myers: The photos that follow are for channel 20.1 / 20.2 (WBBH). The distance from my house to the stations:

WBBH = 72 miles (UHF 15)

April 22, 2010 -- I was driving home from the airport (SRQ) and noticed that my FM radio reception was unusual. So when I got home I ran my digital TV through its channel search routine and took photos of these out-of-area stations:

Gainesville, Florida (approximately 147 miles)

WUFT 5.1/5.2/5.3

WCJB 20.1/20.2

WTXL 27.1/27.2

Tallahassee, Florida (approximately 234 miles)

WFSU 11.1/11.2

WTLH 49.1/49.2

April 22, 2010 -- While rescanning for distant stations, I also discovered a new local digital station, which was previously a low-power analog station.

Tampa

WTAM 30.1/30.2/30.3/30.4

April 25, 2010 -- A pre-dawn rescan for channels revealed a couple of new ones. Photos below.

Orlando (approximately 122 miles):

WKMG 6.1/6.2

WFTV 9.3

WHLV 52.1