Saw that some out of market stations were coming in, so I started swinging the rotor around, and doing some scans.

I've currently got an analogue CH8 coming in, that's just showing colour bars at 1pm. I've got my rotor facing 100', but given that the 4221 does VHF better off the back, I'm assuming this CH8 is coming from the west.

Has CKNX CH8 Wingham gone off-air?

Anybody able to ID this station?

I've been getting bars from CH8 CKNX today as well. I get this station normally without tropo.

Not as hot tropo wise down here this morning but I did see a very rare channel.
CBLT-DT around 630am, constant pixelated non watchable picture though.

Couple crummy quality analogs off the CN tower. 19,57,47..

WGRZ was quite strong and long lasting for just over 200 miles.
Saw WNYO despite WNWO.
Barely got CKVR /A\ on analog 3 to.

Hoping for better tropo from far W or SW soon

pick up 43.1,2 WUAB while aiming at 290 deg. Stranger part was it was showing '19' news. I thought 19 WOIO had their own station, at least they did on analog.Wow strange... WCMZ on 28 came in real good trouncing WUAB here. As for the news at 10...WOIO/WUAB are a duopoly. They do a 10pm newscast for My43 before the usual 11pm one on CBS19.

Incredible E skip tonight. Seeing analogs from all over Canada. CH 4 from Sydney NS to CTV in Saskatchewan on RF2. (had a local news update talking about recent tornadoes there). Mexico and Cuba analogs 2,3 seen when antenna is facing south even.

Decoded these multiple times thru 630-9pm, for the 3rd time since mid June.
KNOP 2-1 (40+ seconds prefectly) registered as high as 7/10 bars.
KOTA 3-1
KDLO 3-1

Ionosphere still active at this hour.

Had WJAC from Johnstown, PA for a bit tonight. That's two nights in a row that I've seen that station come in. I run into it, when scanning Buffalo from here. It seems to be at the same vector, when I peak the Buffalo locals. The channels have been in flux all night. Tried to watch the 4th of July fireworks on WSTM, out of Syracuse, and had dropouts. I had to turn to Buffalo to get a clean feed on WGRZ. Will take another scan around midnight and see what arrives.

What equipment do you use to DX with?

I am currently using:
Antennas Direct XG91 for UHF
Delhi VIP series 302SR for VHF
combined using a Skywalker UVSJ encased in a weather proof box
on the VHF antenna I have a Tin Lee CR7 channel 10/FM trap
these all feed to a Research Communications preamp model 9262 encased in a weather proof box.

The antenna is roof mounted on a Channel Master tripod with a Channel Master rotor (newest model) approx. 35 feet up. RG6 RCA cable was used

These feed to three televisions through a three way splitter (Monster Cable brand even 5.2db) loss each port.

My main dxing television is a Panasonic television which has an add digital channel feature which does not allow old channels to be lost.

I pose this question on account I am always looking to improve my current set up.

I don't know whether power has been restored yet to some or all of the Toronto stations hit by a power outage:

OTA Station Status: Toronto, Hamilton (https://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=107969) (Post #1423)

But if they're still out, and with tropo being strong, is anyone seeing reception changes or new DX grabs?

Most would love a setup like that Mark. Great elevation around your area too.

On a tropo note I just picked up something new at 1140pm. WNLO-DT 32 Buffalo.
Noticed an unusual amount of "snow" in TVO analog RF32 just 18 miles west. Rotated antenna to around 100 deg to maximize the snow, and typed in 32 and partially decoded WNLO.

Strange as there is no other Buffalo area stations coming in at the same time.

That makes only two digitals ever on ch32. WNDY (Tvo off air couple hrs Jun 24th) and WNLO tonight.

Most Toronto stations were back up by 7:30pm EDT.

And I think I know another reason why I have never seen CFTO CTV RF CH 40 (aside from it's low erp). Never realized London has an analog rebroadcast of CBC on CH 40.
It was coming in crystal clear here in Buffalo this evening. So on normal days it probably gets here just enough to interfere with CFTO.

Still hot tropo here!

The extreme heat and extreme humidity is providing a river of stray signals flowing through. I am still scanning 30-40+ channels when I do periodic scans. Everything from cleveland, batavia to rochester, syracuse. I haven't seen anything digital from Toronto except CBC tonight.

Expect much more tropo given hottest temps, hottest humidity in this area on record for the next 3 days. Especially when the sun sets and the cool humid nights provide extreme dewpoint conditions. It seems that night cooling humid air is an electromagnetic conductor.

Another evening of bad tropo here in Burlington yesterday, as a result of the freakishly unpleasant heat.

By 8:45PM, Fox 29 was gone... as unfortunately expected, as it happens every evening following a sunny warm day. However, by that time WKBW-DT, WGRZ-DT and amazingly even WIVB-DT were also gone!!! :o

Pretty good tropo here today, during the heat of the day scanned 30 Dig channels. Basically all the normal Buffalo area stations remained in tact, plus CBLT-DT, some Erie, PA Stations, WJET-DT, WSEE-DT, WFXP-DT, WQLN-DT, and WGTE-DT from Toledo, Ohio. Across 16 discrete frequencies.

7, 14, 16, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26, 29, 32, 33, 38, 39, 43, 49, 50
The Erie Stations held for about an hour or two.

Edit: Other than CHCH from Hamilton, Locals remaining in tact.
CHCH isn't really local for me though (1 Edge).
Eventually tied my personal best of 32 scanned dig channels,
from 4/11/2010 (post # 255) and beat my previous distance with this one.
CH Virtual Call Name City Distance mi Date
36 55.1 WFFT-DT FOX Fort Wayne, IN 350 7/7/2010 1:40 AM
Wonder if it's just me, seems like the most frequent tropo invaders are PBS Stations.
Example: I have seen this a few times since the heat started: WQLN-DT - Erie, PA
WGTE-DT - Toledo, OH, and WBGH-DT Bowling Green, OH plus the local WNED-DT - Buffalo,
at the same time, all 4 are PBS Stations.
What equipment do you use to DX with?
PanaMark,
Homemade sbgh, reflectorless, looks like a channel master balun pillaged from an old antenna chimney mounted on a channel master rotor recently rescued, winegard ap-8700 pre-amp, a 4 way splitter in the basement utilizing 3 ports, 4th one terminated. Feeding 42" LG HDTV, a Zenith DTT-901 convertor box, and an Evga InDTube USB ATSC Tuner along with TsReader and numerous other DVB Apps. Along with an
FM Broadcast Transmitter within 1/2 a mile adds some challenge to the mix.

By 8:45PM, Fox 29 was gone

o_0

Really? How often do you lose Fox? I'm just slightly east of you down the lakeshore @ the Oakville/Mississauga border, and all my local stations + Buffalo remain intact (except WGRZ which is a rollercoaster regardless of tropo). I reckon our geography is similar to Burlington.

And as usual, tonight the Rochester UHF trio is back. Nothing new/exciting.

Really? How often do you lose Fox?EVERY stinking evening following a sunny day between May and September. :mad:

I'm getting lots of Cleveland tonight....

I'm in North Burlington and Fox is usually a write off for me during the summer. Even in winter it is questionable at times. I don't expect to get it regularily. I have absolutely no problems with any other Buffalo stations.

A couple of theories I have include interference from channel 13 out of Kitchener or maybe my CM 4221 (older style) is just weak at channel 14, but a lot stronger in the 30's where the other Buffalo channels are.

Unlike some others, I have no problems with Global (Fox Canada based on the shows I watch).

I do notice Watertown (WWTI 50) booms in quite a bit, so maybe I'm just pointing out that way too far.

I have two 4221HDs (stacked) aimed for Buffalo and my single 4228HD (aimed north east) does a better job in getting WUTV (RF 14.1), however the 4221HDs get me lock on WNYO (RF 49.1). Tropo wise, I get ION (93 miles away) with the good tropo we've been having lately, while the closer BUFs suffer.

Picking up the ION affiliate WSPX, out of Syracuse 114 miles away, on RF15. Why is this unusual? I have a TVO analog transmitter, about 8 miles away and it over-rode it.

I'm getting lots of Cleveland tonight....
Yep, between Erie, Cleveland, and that Bowling Green, OH coming in at the same time, finally bested my previous with 36 dig chs.
Nothing "new to me" tonite though.