Radio-Electronics June 1952 - page 31

TV DX IN JUNE
If you've had the idea up to now that TV dx is something that happens to somebody
else, June is your month.  Sporadic -E dx occurs somewhere in the United States practically
every day.

June, 1951, reports received by RADIO-ELECTRONICS showed 26 days of dx, and there is every
reason to expect that 1952 will be at least as good; perhaps better, as there is some evidence
to indicate that sporadic-E dx is more prevalent in years of low sunspot number.

Dx reception will be frequent in the mid-morning hours, dropping out usually around the middle
of the afternoon, and often returning in the early evening.  The best dx will usually be over
by 10 to 11 p.m., local time, but as the month wears on, late-evening reception will become
more common.  In fact, there will be times in the latter part of June when dx will be
receivable during just about any hour that there are stations on the air in the right places.

The most frequently logged distances will be 600 to 1,100 miles, but intense ionization will
bring the skip distance down to as little as 300 to 400 miles at times.  Ionization over wide
areas simultaneously will make multiple-hop effects possible, and the distance you can cover
will be limited only by the number of stations on a given channel.  Eastern viewers who don't
mind staying up until their nearer stations have left the air should be able to log some West
Coast stations, though the multiple-hop reception will not generally be as good as the single
hop.  Reports of reception in excess of 1,500 miles, particularly, are solicited.

Though the main item of interest to the TV dx enthusiast will be the sporadic-E skip sessions,
we should not overlook the possibilities of tropospheric dx, particularly on the high channels.
Along both our coasts, all across the southern part of the country, and in the region around
the Great Lakes, June will provide the kind of weather that makes for considerable extension
of the normal reception range.  Look for excellent high-band reception in the early morning
hours, particularly on fair calm days.  Late evening hours will also provide good hunting on
the high channels.  (The normal range will be extended on the low bands, too, but
tropospherically reflected signals may often be obscured by sporadic-E dx on channels 2
through 6.)

While all this early-summer dx will be fun for the viewer who is interested in long-range
propagation, it will be a source of trouble for TV technicians.  A high percentage of TV set
owners are interested only in entertainment.  Few of them will know what causes the pile-up
of signals that is almost certain to occur when stations a thousand miles away start rolling
in with almost local signal strength.

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