Early Electronic Television
Pre-1945 DX TV Reception
Long distance (DX) reception of television began almost as soon as mechanical TV broadcasts began. Because these stations used medium and short waves, their signals could travel long distances. In the United States, it was common for east coast and west coast stations to be received in the midwest and south.
The first transatlantic TV reception was in 1928, when Baird's London station was received in New York. There were also reports of baird's transmission being received in Australia. Here is a 1940 QST article about long distance reception of WNBT and a a photograph about TV reception on Whiteface Mountain in upstate New York.
When electronic television broadcasting started in London in 1936, RCA engineers set up a receiving station on Long Island, and were successful in picking up the BBC transmissions. A 1937 magazine article described reception of German and French broadcasting. This 1989 article in 405 Alive describes DX before the war.