WTFDA GUIDELINES FOR COMPUTING TV-FM DISTANCE RECORDS AND SCOREBOARD
TOTALS

1.  A TV Station received on more than one channel (when it changes channel, but retains its identity) may be counted once for each channel, excluding change in offset on the same channel. Simultaneous reception of the same station on more than one channel is usually a receiver problem only, though you may present evidence to the contrary. An FM station may be counted again when it deliberately changes frequencies, or varies more than 100kHz from its normal frequency. DXers should be certain they are not counting receiver images or mixing products.

2.  Stations operating successively on the same channel in a single city that are clearly unrelated (i.e., with different call letters and a hiatus in occupation of the channel, or non-renewal of the first station's license) are counted as separate stations.

3.  A move in a station's transmitter location does not allow it to count as a new station unless the CITY OF LICENSE also changes. Thus, a station starting in a small city and later moving both transmitter and identity to a larger city, if received during both phases of operation, will count twice. Stations moving antenna from downtown to suburbs, for example, with no change in the city of license, count only once. The addition of a city to a station's identity (multiple city station identification) does not count as a new station.

4.  A change in call letters per se is not sufficient reason to count that station as new, whether or not a change in ownership is involved in a continuously operation station. Power lever or changes in power alone shall have no bearing on these guidelines.

5.  Sharetime stations (rare cases of two stations in the same coverage area sharing the same frequency at different times of the day) count as one if they share their transmitter; individually if they have separate transmitter sites.

6.  DX received via cable TV may be counted if the station was received off the air on its original frequency at the CATV headend, from which distances must be measured. TOTAL INCLUDING CATV MUST BE SPECIFIED.

7.  The precise location of the transmitting antenna shall be the determining factor in computing the DX path distance and tallying the number of political units received.

8.  Verifications are not required; however, contributors must be reasonably certain that all stations claimed were received.  Those totals limited to "verified only" should be labeled as such.

9.  DX obtained by recording only, and not witnessed at the actual time of the reception, is eligible -- so long as the contributor himself chose the frequency and prepared the recording apparatus. When more than one DXer is present at a DX reception, even as a visitor to another DXer's shack, only those having an active part in the reception may claim the DX.

10.  Translators and experimental stations, as well as unlicensed outlets such as pirates and clandestines, are eligible. Harmonics of TV video signals are eligible if the fall within another TV band, and those of FM stations are eligible if the harmonics fall within the FM band. But utility stations monitored on FM or TV, and CATV radiation, do not count.

Note: The above guidelines 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 above guidelines for WTFDA purposes. WTFDAers come from varied backgrounds and differ widely on how to count station totals; without the above, it would be like comparing "apples an oranges" when reading DX report columns. These are essentially the same guidelines in use since the WTFDA began, and comments on them are always welcome--but remember, unless reporters follow the same standard in counting stations, it's very hard to compare their results.)