Use GPS to help find TV Channels

[markopolo]

Mike shared this link with me:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/38410
which is to a file (Digital-TV.gpx) that you can use to load US Digital TV Transmitter Locations into your GPS.

Rand McNally RVND 7720 screenshots:


I made a .csv format file for Canadian Broadcast Tower locations (TV-Towers-Canada.zip) and also merged those two plus some older data from TVFool.com into a combined US and Canada (TV-Towers-US-Canada.zip) file.

TV-Towers-Canada.zip has more up-to-date info on Canadian stations than TV-Towers-US-Canada.zip
Note: nearby towers and call signs (within 0.25 km or 0.15 miles of the first) have been removed from TV-Towers-US-Canada.zip to make the file smaller.





For instance, I'm fairly certain that CBAT-TV-3 shown above stopped broadcasting this year.

However, I think TV-Towers-US-Canada.zip could still be useful in case those tower locations are re-used.

The idea is to use your GPS to get the distance and direction of nearby TV broadcasts so that you know where to point your antenna and if the broadcasts are in range.

If you have internet access at your campsite then http://www.tvfool.com and http://www.rabbitears.info/ will give you more up-to-date info.
I found that http://m.rabbitears.info/ (mobile site) will fill in co-ordinates for you to make the search for TV stations easier.

Files (in .csv format but zipped for uploading/downloading):

[Mike]

I just realized the file I grabbed off POI-Factory was already assembled as a .gpx file. Were you able to reverse engineer it into a .csv format?

[markopolo]

I used an online tool: http://www.gps-data-team.com/convert.php

gpx to csv

[Mike]

Thanks.
Dang, you're good!!!

[markopolo]

Another online GPS data conversion tool: http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/

I use this one to convert Microsoft Streets and Trips exported gpx files to text or csv files.

[booster]

Originally Posted by markopolo

Mike shared this link with me:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/38410
which is to a file (Digital-TV.gpx) that you can use to load US Digital TV Transmitter Locations into your GPS.

Rand McNally RVND 7720 screenshots:


I made a .csv format file for Canadian Broadcast Tower locations (TV-Towers-Canada.zip) and also merged those two plus some older data from TVFool.com into a combined (TV-Towers-US-Canada.zip).

TV-Towers-Canada.zip has more up-to-date info on Canadian stations than TV-Towers-US-Canada.zip
Note: nearby towers and call signs (within 0.25 km or 0.15 miles of the first) have been removed from TV-Towers-US-Canada.zip to make the file smaller.







For instance, I'm fairly certain that CBAT-TV-3 shown above stopped broadcasting this year.

However, I think TV-Towers-US-Canada.zip could still be useful in case those tower locations are re-used.

The idea is to use your GPS to get the distance and direction of nearby TV broadcasts so that you know where to point your antenna and if the broadcasts are in range.

If you have internet access at your campsite then http://www.tvfool.com and http://www.rabbitears.info/ will give you more up-to-date info.
I found that http://m.rabbitears.info/ (mobile site) will fill in co-ordinates for you to make the search for TV stations easier.

Files (in .csv format but zipped for uploading/downloading):

We use this one,

http://www.antennapoint.com/

It works sort of opposite to the ones you show. Just put in your GPS coordinates at your current location and it will show you nearby stations, and their location in relation to you.

[Mike]

Like dishpointer, looks pretty simple.