This is WTFDA.org
The Home of The Worldwide TV-FM DX Association
Serving TV & FM DXers since 1968
What?
What you see above is a can of worms. When you start to tinker with, or make adjustments to, the station counting criteria, you open that can. We acknowledge that the can is now open.
Note: The guidelines on this page are to be used for reporting to VUD columns. Feel free to count your station totals any way you like in your own log, but please follow the guidelines for WTFDA purposes. Many of these guidelines can apply to all DXers, WTFDA members or not.
Most of what you will read on this page applies to the DX experience in North America
City of License Vs. Transmitter Location
Most, if not all DXers, keep track of how many states and provinces they've logged. Most DXers use city-of-license (COL) in their state calculations since the FCC uses COL in their database. However there are times when COL cannot be used, and those times are when the station's transmitter is located in another state. In those situations, a station's location should be counted as being in the state where the transmitter is located.
Total Political Units (TPU)
The WTFDA also tracks a DXer's total of political units logged. Each state counts as one (total=50) TPU. District of Columbia (DC) counts as 1 (total=one). Canadian Provinces count as 1 (total=10 + three territories). Mexican states count as one each (total=31). DXCC entities (countries) count one each (total=338). Total maximum political units possible is over 400.
This is making my head hurt.
The intent of this page is to keep it simple. Nothing turns people away than
a slew of complicated rules and regulations. These are guidelines. They are not
hard and fast rules. Some people will disagree with these guidelines. That's expected.
WTFDA Station Counting Criteria
Posted by Admin | May 30, 2012
1. CHANGES IN CHANNEL OR FREQUENCY
When a television station changes channels, the old channel counts as a logging
and the new channel counts as a new logging. The DTV repack will result in many,
many new loggings for DXers as stations change real channels.
Stations that do NOT change to another real channel but ride on another station
in the form of a sub-channel DO NOT COUNT as a new logging.
FM stations can count as new loggings if they have moved at least 100khz from their
previous assigned frequency.
Stations operating successively on the same channel/frequency in the same location
and are completely unrelated (different callsigns,etc.) will be counted separately.
For example, station A on 100.5 has its license revoked, goes off the air and eventually
is replaced by station B. Both station A and station B count as loggings.
2. CHANGES IN LOCATION
A station that changes its transmitter location and changes its City of License also can be counted as a new station in the logbook at the new location.
3. CHANGES IN CALLSIGNS
Stations that change callsigns CAN NOT be counted as new stations
4. FREQUENCY SHARING
Two or more stations sharing on a given frequency can be counted as individual stations only if each one has a different transmitter site.
5. WHAT CONSTITUTES A LOGGING
A station can be considered logged if any of the following applies: Callsign is heard, station PSIP can be read on the receiver (TV or FM), callsign in the RDS PS field can be observed, ads, weather or newscasts for businesses in the local area can be heard or programming matches the station's webstream,
6. DISTANCE CALCULATIONS
The distance between a DX station and receiving location should be determined using the transmitter location of the DX station as one end point. Co-ordinates for both points can be found using Google Earth. As an alternative, DXers can use this site although it is not as accurate.
DXers should be reasonable certain that all station claimed as heard should actually have been heard. Verification cards/letters can be used but email from the stations involved can also be used, as well as recorded audio or the comparison of recorded audio against "listen-live" audio. Interval signals can be used.
7. PIRATES & FRANKEN FMs
PIRATES can be counted as new stations if their transmitting location can be located. **Many FM Dxers choose NOT to count pirate stations.** So-called "Franken FMs" (TV stations transmitting their audio on 87.75mhz (Ch6) to appear as FM stations) can also be counted as FM stations. Other ligitimate stations, mostly outside the US, using the frequency range of 87.5-87.9 can be counted. Low powered satellite radio car transmitters can NOT be counted.