TV and FM DX - History

History

After the introduction of the Alexandra Palace, London 405-line BBC channel B1 TV service in 1936, it soon became apparent that television reception was also possible well outside the original intended service area.

For example, in February 1938, engineers at the RCA Research Station, Riverhead, Long Island, accidentally received a 3,000-mile (4,800 km) transatlantic F2 reception of the London 45.0 MHz, 405-line channel B1 TV service.

The flickering black-and-white footage, (characteristic of F2 propagation) included Jasmine Bligh, one of the original BBC announcers, and a brief shot of Elizabeth Cowell, who also shared announcing duties with Jasmine, an excerpt from an unknown period costume drama and the BBC's station identification logo transmitted at the beginning and end of the day's programmes.

This reception was recorded on 16 mm movie film, and is now considered to be the only surviving example of pre-war, live British television.

The BBC temporarily ceased transmissions on September 1, 1939 as World War II began. After the BBC channel B1 television service recommenced in 1946, distant reception reports were received from various parts of the world, including Italy, South Africa, India, the Middle East, North America and the Caribbean.

In May 1940, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a U.S. government agency, formally allocated the 42 – 50 MHz band for FM radio broadcasting. It was soon apparent that distant FM signals from up to 1,400 miles (2,300 km) distance would often interfere with local stations during the summer months.

Because the 42 – 50 MHz FM signals were originally intended to only cover a relatively confined service area, the sporadic long-distance signal propagation was seen as a nuisance, especially by station management.

In February 1942, the first known published long-distance FM broadcast station reception report was reported by FM magazine. The report provided details of 45.1 MHz W51C Chicago, Illinois, received in Monterrey, Mexico: "Zenith Radio Corporation, operating W51C, has received a letter from a listener in Monterrey, Mexico, telling of daily reception of this station between 3:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M. This is the greatest distance, 1,100 miles, from which consistent reception of the 50 transmitter has been reported."

In June 1945, the FCC decided that FM would have to move from the established 42 – 50 MHz pre-war band to a new band at 88 – 108 MHz. According to 1945 and 1946 FCC documents, the three major factors which the commission considered in its decision to place FM in the 88 – 108 MHz band were sporadic E co-channel interference, F2 layer interference, and extent of coverage.

During the 1950s to early 1960s, long-distance television reports started to circulate via popular U.S. electronics hobbyist periodicals such as DXing Horizons, Popular Electronics, Television Horizons, Radio Horizons, and Radio-Electronics. In January 1960, the TV DX interest was further promoted via Robert B. Cooper's regular DXing Horizons column.

In 1957, the world record for TV DX was extended to 10,800 miles (17,400 km) with the reception of Britain's BBC channel 1 in various parts of Australia. Most notably, George Palmer in Melbourne, Victoria, received viewable pictures and audio of a news program from the BBC London channel B1 station. This BBC F2 reception was recorded on movie film.

During the early 1960s, the U.K. magazine Practical Television first published a regular TV DX column edited by Charles Rafarel. By 1970, Rafarel's column had attracted considerable interest from TV DXers worldwide. After Rafarel's death in 1971, UK TV DXer Roger Bunney continued the monthly column, which continued to be published by Television Magazine. With the demise of Television Magazine in June 2008, Bunney's column finished after 36 years of publication. In addition to the monthly TV DX column, Bunney has also published several TV DX books, including Long Distance Television Reception (TV-DX) for the Enthusiast 1981 ISBN 0-900162-71-6, and A TV DXer's Handbook 1986 ISBN 0-85934-150-X.