Knowledge Base
Antenna Development
Designs come and go over the years. There were many. Some faded away but some stayed.Antenna Theory
In this section you will find articles on yagi theory plus information on a fringe antenna (the rhombic) that has gone out of favor in recent years because of its size. It's gain, however, is unreal and this antenna was used in the "deepest of the deep" fringe locations and would would work wonders on today's DTV stations, if anyone cared to try.| The Lost Art of Rhombic Antennas |
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| Rhombic TV Antennas |
| The Yagi |
| UHF Antenna Comparison Charts |
Antenna Stacking
Everything you need to know about stacking TV or FM antennas| Vertically Stacking Chromstar II Single Channel TV antennas |
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| Stacking Winegard TV Antennas |
| Stacking Antennas |
| Stacking Winegard CH6065 FM Yagis |
| Stacking Yagis |
TV and FM Development
There's a little bit of everything in this section. You can follow along with the progression of TV and FM broadcasting over the years.| 1928 Scanning Disc Television Kit. DIY, back in the day. |
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| The Meissner TV Kit |
| List of TV Markets, Stations and Channels in 1940 - Radio - Electronics May 1982 |
| FM status in 1942. Only 26 stations! |
| Rapid FM Expansion in 1944 |
| FM Status in 1950. Color map from radio-Television Retailing 1950 |
| FM Status in 1959 |
| TV and FM Development - 30 Years in Review James E Kluge |
| W2XQR The station that eventually became WQXR 96.3 New York |
| W39B Mt. Washington NH, which eventually becameWMTW or WHOM (FM) |
| The Concert Network. Coverage maps of all member stations from NYC to Boston in the early '60s. |
| Lack of International TV Standards - eric M. Leyton Sept 1968 |
| White's Radio Log 1951 - C DeWitt White Co. 1951 |
Propagation
This section focuses on propagation.| Nature's Invisible Radio Mirror - James F. van Delta WA2FQZ Radio Electronics Nov 1961 |
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| VHF Ionospheric Propagation - George Jacobs W3ASK and Stanley Leinwool CQ Magazine Nov 1969 |
| The Mystery Behind TV DX - Radio Electronics May 1951 |
| Interpreting Test Patterns - Ken Kleidon Radio and TV News April 1952 |
| The Effects of Co-channel Interference on KVOO during the Summer 1942 (Pages 16-17) |
| TV Over the Horizon - Thomas J. Hidley Electronics Illustrated Aug 1959 |
| Es in Depth - Dr Mei Wison |
Catalogs and Manuals
| Channel Master Catalog - 1990 40 pages |
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| Winegard Prostar TV Antenna Catalog - 2001 |
| Winegard Chromstar TV Antennas -1 |
| HS Publications (UK) 2017 Catalog - DX Equipment, antennas, the D100, etc from Garry Smith |
| HS Publications (UK) 2019 Catalog - from Garry Smith |
| Winegard Chromstar TV Antennas -2 |
| Sony XDR-F1HD Service Manual |
| Alliance HD-73 Rotor User Guide |
| Onkyo T450RDS Tuner User Guide |
| Winegard Tech Specs for Preamps, Distribution Amps and Splitters |
| The D100 Analog TV Converter/Tuner Manual |
WTFDA Corner
A collection of articles by WTFDA members or old photos of WTFDA members.| WTFDA Convention 1977 Group Photo |
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| Ryan Grabow's Ch2-6 Eskip Maps |
| AIPA Group Photo 1957 |
| QSLing TV and FM Stations - Frank Aden (Popular Communications Sept 1977) |
| DXing the TV Bands - William Eckberg (Popular Communications Sept 2000) |
| Meteor Scatter DXing on the FM Bands - Frank Aden (Popular Communications Aug 2000) |
| Breaking the TV Distance Barrier - Morrie Goldman (Elementary Electronics June 1977) |
| The Challenge of OTA TV DX - Dan Oglethorpe (Spectrum Monitor June 2015) |
Bob Cooper's Corner
Here are the first 16 issues of Robert B. Cooper's DX Horizon magazine from 1960 through April 1961. Before you begin, please read Bob's Readme file for some valuable historic data. Also check out the 1975 Test Cookbook published by Bob's CATJ magazine.| Jan 1960 | Oct 1960 |
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| Feb 1960 | Nov 1960 |
| Mar 1960 | Dec 1960 |
| Apr 1960 | Jan 1961 |
| May 1960 | Feb 1962 |
| Jun 1960 | Mar 1962 |
| Jul 1960 | Apr 1962 |
| Aug 1960 | 1975 Test Cookbook |
| Sep 1960 | Read This First! |
SDRs
Various articles about SDRs, including how to use them with the various software packages that are available.| How to set up SDR Console for FM DXing |
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| How to Use Your RSP with HDSDR |
| The SDRUno Cookbook |
| SDRUno User Manual |
| SDR++ User Manual |
| SDR++ Installation Manual |
| Elad FDM-S2 Manual |
| Watch on YouTube - Quick Logging with SDR Console and FMList - Using SDR Console with the FMList Logging Tool - Bryce Foster May 2023 |
AIPA Archive
Founded in 1953 by a young Bob Cooper, the AIPA was the club for TV and FM DXers. The AIPA lasted ten years until 1963 when it was suddenly disbanded. Many AIPAers later went on to form the WTFDA. This is a collection of all the AIPA bulletins we could find, courtesy of WTFDA member Les Prus.| 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 |
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| Jan | Jan | Jan | Jan | Jan | Jan | Jan |
| Feb | Feb | Feb | Feb | Feb | Feb | Feb |
| Mar | Mar | Mar | Mar | Mar | Mar | Mar |
| Apr | Apr | Apr | Apr | Apr | Apr | Apr |
| May | May | May | May | May | May | May |
| Jun | Jun | Jun | Jun | Jun | Jun | Jun |
| Jul | Jul | Jul | Jul | Jul | Jul | Jul |
| Aug | Aug | Aug | Aug | Aug | Aug | Aug |
| Sep | Sep | Sep | Sep | Sep | Sep | Sep |
| Oct | Oct | Oct | Oct | Oct | Oct | Oct |
| Nov | Nov | Nov | Nov | Nov | Nov | Nov |
| Dec | Dec | Dec | Dec | Dec | Dec | Dec |