I my brief year in OTA, I have not seen conditions quite like the ones received over the past day.
Indeed as Jase eluded too, Cleveland stations are all coming in here in London too, and this bodes well to me. At one point I did a digital scan and got over 40 digital stations while pointing just at Cleveland.
There have been rare glimps of 17-1 WDLI, to solid a solid all day signal from 23-1 ION Cleveland. Youngstown, Ohio has been strong with WKBN 27-1, 27-2 coming in pretty good. Pittsburgh's 11-1 WPIX has visited, so has 27-1 WBGU PBS from Bowling Green, Ohio. Just down the road has been 30-1 WGTE from Toledo also has particualrly strong.
WOSU, WEAO, WNEO, WSBT, WFFT Fort Wayne Indianna, WNIT, WQAM Chicago, WHME. WSBT South Bend Indianna, are just a few others that come to mind.
Indeed truely an exciting day up to this point.

Receiving WNEP 16-1 Scranton PA also WOLF 56-1 Scranton PA on 50.
Getting WKYC 3-1 Cleveland.

My grabs so far today:

3.1 WKYC-HD (RF 17); NBC; Cleveland, OH
3.2 WKYC-WX (RF 17); Cleveland Radar
3.3 WPSUSD2 (RF 15); Clearfield, PA
6.1 WJAC-HD (RF 34); NBC; Johnstown, PA
6.2 RTN6 (RF 34); RTV sub-channel; Johnstown, PA
8.3 WJW-DT (RF 8); Fox; Cleveland, OH (watched COPS for an hour!)
15.3 WPSU-HD; Penn State University station
15.4 WPSUSD1; Penn State University station
17.4 WDLI D4; Canton, OH (religious)
17.5 WDLI D5; Canton, OH (religious)
20.1 WMYD-HD; MyTV; Detroit, MI
21.2 WBCB; Youngstown, PA
22.2 WSBT (RF 22); South Bend, Indiana
22.3 WFXP-DT (RF 22); Weather; South Bend, Indiana
22.5 WSBT (RF 22); Stormtracker; South Bend, Indiana
30.1 WGTE-HD (RF 29); Toledo, OH
30.2 WGTE Family (RF 29); Toledo, OH
30.3 WGTE Create (RF 29); Toledo, OH
35.1 WSEE (RF 16); CW; Erie, PA
35.2 WBEP (RF 16); CW, Erie, PA (apparently these two stations merged)
39.1 WFWA (RF 40); PBS; Fort Wayne, Indiana
39.2 WFWA-D2 (RF 40); PBS; Fort Wayne, Indiana
39.3 WFWA-D3 (RF 40); PBS; Fort Wayne, Indiana
45.2 WNEO-D2 (RF 45); PBS; Kent, OH
45.3 WNEO-D3 (RF 45); PBS; Kent, OH
45.4 WNEO-D4 (RF 45); PBS; Kent, OH
49.3 WEAO-D2 (RF 50); PBS; Cleveland, OH
49.4 WEAO-D4 (RF 50); PBS; Cleveland, OH
50.1 WKBD-HD (RF 14), CW, Detroit, MI
52.1 WGGN-DT (RF 42); religious; Castalia, OH
52.3 WGGN-DT (RF 42); religious; Castalia, OH
53.1 WWHO-DT (RF 46); CW; Columbus, OH
55.1 WBNX-HD (RF 30); CW; Cleveland, OH
56.1 WTVS-HD (RF 43); PBS; Detroit, MI
61.1 WQHS-DT (RF 34); Univision (Spanish language); Cleveland, OH
62.1 WWJ (RF 44); CBS; Detroit, MI

Tonight around 10:00pm i had my antenna turned to about 350 degrees i scrolled past 51 51-2 51-3 and was picking up channels from green bay wisconson. Quite an achievement from thorold to green bay. I think it was channel 2-1 and 2-2 storm center. Reminds me of being a kid and trying to tune in the farthest AM radio stations, back then i could get Minneapolis, St. Louis and Kentuky.
Must be some strange weather things going on tonight.

The band is nuts tonight FM/TV. I just did an my first 2010 FM DX/Bandscan on my Nokia Cellphone :D. Toronto/Erie/Detroit is BOOMING in, Detroit DTV Locals are even showing up on my rabbit ears as I type this!

It was good Friday afternoon too, I had 98.7 AMP Radio from Detroit on in my car all afternoon.

The great Tropo continues..... Picked up a new one for me tonight. WJAC from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, has been in for quite a while tonight. Will continue to scan.

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q299/PrinceLH22/100_0224.jpg
WJAC RF34 Johnstown, PA

Conditions over the last 24 hours have been very good for distant stations. Thus, your locals are likely being impacted by interference from distant stations on the same channel....

More grabs (my rotor has been working overtime tonight):

7.3; WJBK-DT (RF 7); Fox; Detroit, MI
9.2; WSYR-2 (RF 17); Weather/News; Syracuse, NY
23.3; WWCP-SD (RF 24); Fox; Johnstown, PA
24.5; WATM-HD (RF 24); ABC; Allegheny, PA
29.5; WKTV-HD (RF 29); NBC; Utica, NY
30.4; WSKA-2 (RF 30); Corning/Elmira, NY
30.5; WSKA-3 (RF 30); Corning/Elmira, NY
46.1; WSKG-HD (RF 42); PBS; Binghampton, NY
46.2; WSKG 2 (RF 42); PBS; Binghampton, NY
46.3; WSKG 3 (RF 42); PBS; Binghampton, NY
47.1; WKBS (RF 46); Christian; Altoona, PA

WGRZ Buffalo is so strong tonight, that I can receive it perfectly regardless of antenna direction.

@PanaMark - glad my catches inspired you! :) Your catch of Iowa is awesome! I feel like this has been a tropo buffet and I'm taking all I can eat, since the past month and a half was such a washout for tropo!

@Phil81 - some awesome catches as well, and also wanted to mention your November tropo pics were great!

@Jase88 - you never cease to amaze me with what catches pop up in Kitchener!

Great results from everyone, and impressed by the variety we've all been picking up from our respective corners of the world!

I'm astonished by all the tropo I've witnessed between yesterday and today....especially when I came home from work around 11pm and saw that Indiana was booming in (my first time receiving that state) along with Michigan and Ohio! I bagged about 14 new channels bewteen yesterday and today. And I was blown away by catching WLNS on RF36 because 36 is CTS analog in Hamilton (I also caught WNIT on RF35 which stomped over CTS digital!) Like I wrote yesterday, it seemed like something was trying to come in on every channel and my camera was going into overdrive! I also topped my own best DX record from yesterday with a few seconds of WMBD from Peoria, Illinois! It is approx 571 miles from me! Here is a list of my catches from the Big Tropo Event of January 2010 (this was the most intense and amazing event I've experienced so far in DTV DXing!) Pics to come soon! :) Got to see news from South Bend, Indiana and Lansing, MI!

New stations:

RF14 WKBD (CW) Detroit, MI [226 miles] (over top of WUTV Buffalo!!!)
RF22 WBUI (CW) Decatur, IL [562.18 miles - one of my best catches!]
RF22 WSBT (CBS) South Bend, IN [386 miles]
RF23 WVPX (ION) Akron, OH [228 miles]
RF27 WBGU (PBS) Bowling Green, OH [304 miles]
RF29 WGTE (PBS) Toledo, OH [262 miles]
RF30 WMBD (CBS) Peoria-Bloomington, IL [571 miles - my NEW record!]
RF35 WNIT (PBS) South Bend, IN [385.18 miles] (over top of Digital CTS from Hamilton!!!)
RF36 WLNS (CBS) Lansing, MI [271 miles] (over top of Analog CTS from Hamilton!!!)
RF42 WNDU (NBC) South Bend, IN [386.52 miles]
RF43 WTVS (PBS) Detroit, MI [221.19 miles] (over top of WNED Buffalo!!!)
RF48 WHME (LeSEA) South Bend, IN [384.43 miles]
RF50 WEAO (PBS) Akron, OH [228.42 miles]
RF51 WPWR (MyTV) Chicago, IL [446.25 miles]

Returning visitors:
RF7 WJBK (FOX) Detroit, MI [222.62 miles]
RF15 WEWS (ABC) Cleveland, OH [214 miles]
RF16 WSMH (FOX) Flint, MI [246 miles]
RF17 WKYC (NBC) Cleveland, OH [212 miles]
RF21 WMYD (MyTV) Detroit, MI [221.18 miles]
RF29 WMAQ (NBC) Chicago, IL [446.25 miles]
RF30 WBNX (CW) Cleveland, OH [213 miles]
RF34 WQHS (UNI) Cleveland, OH [213 miles]
RF45 WDIV (NBC) Detroit, MI [221.53 miles]
RF45 WLLA (FamilyNet) Kalamazoo, MI [326 miles]

To all the folks living in the Vaughan/Woodbridge/Maple area.

Over the last two days I have been receiving an amazing signal for WGRZ 2.1,2,3. Is it just me or has the TV station done something. Can anyone concur?

Wow that would make sense, didn't take that into consideration.

Even worse this morning.. I'm relatively close to the transmitter for most of the channels I get. They're always crystal clear but this morning even some of those are a bit fuzzy.. Even SunTV wouldn't even come in there for a moment and I usually get 97% strength on that..

Very interesting, I should be scanning for new channels. It is strange though that it seems to be impacting almost every station I get.

Jealous of all you people with great catches. Despite having nothing but an open lake around me, I'm probably in the worst location for tropo.

I assume all/most of you have rotors with big antennas mounted high? Or do you guys use UHF-only reflectors?

I haven't been able to get any locks. I guess that's because I'm down by the lake, so the elevation is too low? My antenna is a clone, and it's in a fixed position 30 feet up the air.

Agh. But my sharp did detect signals on these frequencies, so I'm guessing a whole amount of stations were trying to come in. Most were between 10-20% so none of them locked (40% for my sharp to lock). Can anyone ID any of these?

RF7
RF8
RF10 (WHEC Rochester I'm guessing)
RF12 (WICU Erie I'm guessing)
RF13
RF15 (I don't know if this was CKXT2 or something else, considering before I never got a blip off this one.)
RF16 (WXXI Rochester, almost locked got PSIP for a bit)
RF17
RF21
RF22
RF23 (WPXJ Batavia, only one that locked)
RF28 (WUHF Rochester)
RF29
RF30
RF33 (SOMETHING else on 33, it killed WGRZ for hours. Usually WGRZ benefits from tropo/warmair so it had to be something else)
RF34
RF37
RF41
RF45 (WROC Rochester, I think this locked for 2 seconds because I saw the callsign. odd it didn't stay because this is usually the first one that comes in on tropo nights).
RF46
RF50

If anyone can ID these, that would be nice, along with any suggestions to improve my DX chances for the next go.

Great DX experience, the last 24 hours. Picked up a second Johnstown PA channel, WATM to go along with WJAC earlier. Later picked up WSKG out of Binghamton, NY, then WCAX out of Burlington, VT this morning. A few pics from the orgy of signals recently.

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q299/PrinceLH22/100_0225.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q299/PrinceLH22/100_0227.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q299/PrinceLH22/100_0228.jpg


And the scanning continues......

Also had the Watertown LP FOX affiliate in, on 35, plus WMPI on RF23.

Here is the Burlington pic:

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q299/PrinceLH22/100_0231.jpg

This would be an awful time to be doing a new install in Southern Ontario! :eek:

Enjoy the great reception! :D

This would be an awful time to be doing a new install in Southern Ontario! :eek:

Enjoy the great reception! :D

This is the worst tropo mess I've ever seen with respect to regular local reception. I was beginning to think that the cable&sat companys were trying to block OTA reception by using dirty stray signals to mess the local reception to get us all to subscribe with them. :p

Yep, I really think this mid-January atmospheric signal effect is historic in scale. :eek:

The 'Current Auroral Oval' is stretching all the way down into the southern US. This would have a direct effect on the solar effects and the waveing behaviour of electromagnetic propogation altitudes. An Auroral Oval is basically a false electromagnetic/atmospheric ceiling created by temps, dewpoints and geomagnetic solar activity.

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/1513/pmapn.gif (http://img684.imageshack.us/i/pmapn.gif/)

Also there are several Solar effects including the 11-year solar cycle, the 27-day solar cycle, and Solar Energetic Particle events that have atmospheric results that can change RF properties:we are currently in the midst of a prolonged solar minimum between solar cycles 23 and 24. Compared to previously recorded solar minimums (1976, 1986, and 1996), the current solar minimum (2008-2009) is unusually prolonged, with a record number of sunspot-free days in the history of satellite measurements since the 1970s. Anomalously low upper atmospheric temperature and low levels of O3, CO, and OH in MLS observations during the current solar minimum also point to exceptionally low solar output.http://mls.jpl.nasa.gov/research/solareffects.php

@Phil81 - some awesome catches as well, and also wanted to mention your November tropo pics were great!I also topped my own best DX record from yesterday with a few seconds of WMBD from Peoria, Illinois! Excellent. I slept through all of that yesterday morning but I got lucky early this morning. Around 7am i pulled in just that station (WMBD-DT 31-1 [RF30]). And also WISC-DT 3-1 CBS (RF50) from Madison, WI at the same time! Distance is easily well over 300 miles on those. Got a brief partial decode of the returning WWMT-DT before those two.

Pulled in many of the returning South Bend stations too, from WNIT,WHME,WNDU. Even right now still getting things on and off for hours like WSYM 47-1 WDCQ 15-1 (absolutely dominating over WEWS totally),WJRT 12-1, WLNS 6-1 (Very strong), WOTV 41-1,WEYI 25-1 and WBAY 2-1 in Green bay. WTLJ-DT 54-1 TCT still there today as is WPBN 7-1 in Traverse City. Still haven't seen any Chicago's here yet (like your WMAQ). RF29 is just too crowded down here.

WOW just now WWTV-DT CBS Cadillac,MI crushed local CBET-TV CBC 9 here there's a basketball game on. And from the same area WCMV-17 PBS overwrote WKYC-DT on RF17, got the PSIP only it has vanished almost instantly.

WDIV has been a total gonner here for 36+ hrs now. Same for WADL.

All this mess last few days has rendered the more local channels crap which I had been enjoying recently.

Happy tropo hunting...