Editing TV and FM DX (section)

==History==
After the [[Alexandra Palace]], [[London]] [[405-line]] [[BBC]] channel B1 [[BBC One|TV service]] was introduced in 1936, it soon became apparent that television could be received well outside the original intended service area.

For example, in November 1938, engineers at the [[RCA]] Research Station, [[Riverhead, Long Island]], accidentally received a 3,000-mile (4,800&nbsp;km) [[Atlantic Ocean|transatlantic]] [[Ionosphere#F layer|F2]] broadcast of the London 45.0 [[Megahertz|MHz]], 405-line  BBC Television 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 [[Television programming|programmes]].

This reception was [[kinescope|recorded]] on 16 mm [[film|movie]] [[photographic film|film]], and is now considered to be the only surviving example of pre-war, live British television.<ref>{{cite web | title=First Live BBC Recording | work=Alexandra Palace Television Society | url=http://www.apts.org.uk/recording.htm | access-date=April 26, 2005}}</ref>

The BBC temporarily ceased transmissions on September 1, 1939 as [[World War II]] began. After the BBC 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 {{convert|1400|mi|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 45.1MHz 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 [kW] transmitter has been reported."<ref>{{cite web | title=FM Broadcasting Chronology | work=History of American Broadcasting | url=http://members.aol.com/jeff560/chronofm.html | access-date=May 22, 2005}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web | title=FM Radio Finds its Niche | work=R. J. Reiman | url=http://ieee.cincinnati.fuse.net/reiman/09_1994.html | access-date=May 22, 2005 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050410235932/http://ieee.cincinnati.fuse.net/reiman/09_1994.html | archive-date=April 10, 2005 }}</ref>

During the 1950s to early 1960s, long-distance television reports started to circulate via popular U.S. electronics hobbyist [[magazine|periodical]]s 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 {{convert|10800|mi|km}} with the reception of Britain's channel BBC TV in various parts of [[Australia]]. Most notably, George Palmer in [[Melbourne, Australia|Melbourne, Victoria]], received viewable pictures and audio of a news program from the BBC TV London station. This BBC F2 reception was recorded on movie film.<ref>{{cite web | title=George Palmer – Australian TV DX Pioneer | work=Todd Emslie's TV DX Page | url=http://home.iprimus.com.au/toddemslie/George_Palmer_TVDX.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518052319/http://home.iprimus.com.au/toddemslie/George_Palmer_TVDX.html | access-date=May 16, 2024| archive-date=2022-05-18 }}</ref>

During the early 1960s, the [[United Kingdom|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}}.