A strong tropo night/morning it was... list from 6p Aug 1 to ~630a Aug 2.
Ranges are 70mi to 200mi for all

RF CH PSIP Call Net Location
----------------------------------------
5 40-1 WLMB Fam Jasper, MI
10 10-1 WILX NBC Onandaga, MI
12 12-1 WJRT ABC Flint, MI
14 4-1 WCMH NBC Columbus, OH
18 33-1 WISE NBC Ft Wayne, IN
19 19-1 CKXT SUN London, On
20 41-1 WOTV ABC Kalamazoo, MI
20 21-1 WFMJ NBC Youngstown, OH
20 5-1 CBLT CBC Toronto/CN Tower
22 66-1 WFXP FOX Erie, PA
22 5-1 WNEM CBS Saginaw-Bay City, MI
23 49-1 WIPB PBS Muncie, IN (Indianapolis)
24 24-1 WJET ABC Erie, PA
24 21-1 WPTA MyTV Ft Wayne, IN
27 27-1 WBGU PBS Bowling Green/Lima, OH
28 28-1 WCMZ PBS Flint/Goodrich, MI
35 35-1 WOHL ABC/CBS Lima, OH
36 6-1 WLNS CBS Lansing, MI
38 34-1 WOSU PBS Columbus, OH
38 47-1 WSYM FOX Lansing/Jackson, MI
39 17-1 WDLI TBN Akron, OH
40 23-1 WKAR PBS Lansing, MI
40 39-1 WFWA PBS Ft Wayne, IN
42 52-1 WGGN Ind Sandusky/Castalia, OH
47* 34-1 W47AB-D PBS Mansfield, OH (LP repeater of WOSU Columbus) @ 10kW DA
48 49-1 WAQP TCT Saginaw, MI
51 53-1 WLAJ ABC Lansing/Jackson, MI
65 41-1 CIII GBL Toronto/CN Tower


As expected, had considerable co channel with normally okay stations.

Local analogs CIII on CH22 and CFTV CH34 were off the air yesterday allowing for DX possibilities on those freq.

Funny that WDWO TCT LP on 18 converted to digital just 3 days ago in Detroit and has been remapped already lol.

That W47AB-D is a new one... thought my TV's PSIP table was wacked at first with two WOSU 34-1's. No picture of it though, it faded to fast.

Also saw some very clear analogs off the CN tower and region CITY 57, OMNI 47, etc...

I too was noting issues with 11.1 (rf 18). This interference went away when I rotated away from NY state; so something over there--perhaps Batavia--was causing co-channel. Didn't really see any problems with WNLO.

I recall a comment of mine a week or two ago, regarding seein some co-channel analog station on RF ch 18. Search back a couple pages u'll probably find it. It was definitely an analog station from Canada interfering with RF 18 here in Buffalo back then. Nothing in the area around here (NYS side of the lake) on RF 18 that I know of. I didn't keep it on long enough to get a station id as I recall, but it was perfectly clear to me (pun intended) that it was an analog station from Canada causing the interference. Can't wait to see next year's Tropo Reports, i.e Post Canadian Analog Shutdown.

edit: found the comment, it's in post # 468.

\/\/\/\/\/ - TVO it is, or was for me. Like i said, it was an analog station for sure, and on the same day/nite other London, ON
were visiting here. Some rough terrain between Elmira and the Lakes, so doubt Elmira would ever escape its
coverage area very much, if at all, but never know i guess... Unless one can make out any Analog on RF-18 at all thru the noise, then that's ur guy.

There is an operational analog station in London, ON (TVO, 38kW) which could cause co-channel on RF 18. The FCC database also shows licensed stations in Springfield, OH, WDBT-DT (35kW); and WETM-DT (45kW) Elmira, NY (I thought it was Batavia). So it could have been any or all of those causing us issues I suppose...

To my knowledge, none of the analog (they're all currently analog) TVO stations broadcasts any sort of digital station/programming data in their broadcast stream.

Perhaps it is TVO on Channel 18 from Peterborough, ON.

What was weird about the tropo was it was only affecting stations in one direction and not the ones I normally drop. Both analog and digital from the same tower in Hamilton were affected. These are strong stations for me in Kitchener. I'm thinking it was more of some sort of effect that weakened the station signal rather than another distant station coming in stronger. These stations were black all night (no signal) and not just pixelating and cutting out.

Tonight tropo is normal. I lost 9.1 from the CN Tower, but the same program CSI is on 4.1 so I switched to CBS 4.1 which I don't get unless it's tropo. 4.1 right now is coming in strong. 9.1 on RF40 comes in with the same signal strength as another RF40 station in another direction. When tropo happens these two stations fight for signal and 9.1 starts to pixelate.

I lost 9.1 from the CN Tower, but the same program CSI is on 4.1 so I switched to CBS 4.1 which I don't get unless it's tropo. 4.1 right now is coming in strong. 9.1 on RF40 comes in with the same signal strength as another RF40 station in another direction. When tropo happens these two stations fight for signal and 9.1 starts to pixelate.

I never get CFTO from the CN Tower at all here (well I caught it once for like a 1/2 hr as long as I been playin). Pretty sure I'd have seen RF 40 from the CN Tower more often over the course of a year, if not for London. Nuther case of too close a freq re-use if ya ask me.
Again, kinda can't wait for them analog stations to go off the air for good up there...Though they are kinda handy for troubleshooting once in a while...

CW 23.1 sometimes gets killed by ION's 23RF signals during strong tropo
I've been thinking about this one, but not quite understanding how ION can affect CW when CW is transmitting on RF32? Can someone explain?

I think what ota_canuck was talking about was this scenario-

ion comes in, but it is very weak so the set top box he is using picks up a digital channel on RF 23, but it is too weak to pick up the PSIP info that it is virtual channel 51.1. On his set top box it replaces WNLO 23.1 with the ion station 23.1 because the set top box is using the RF frequency instead of the virtual channel which was unknown at the time of the scan.

This only happens on the model/make of his particular set top box. On my tv if a duplicate virtual channel comes in during a scan it adds it to the list rather than replacing existing entries. Which comes in handy when doing tropo scans when you start picking up distant stations such as 9.1 in Syracuse which has the same virtual channel as CFTO 9.1 in Toronto. Both stations will be in my list of stations rather than channels being replaced.

Hope this makes sense.

From London tonight pointing East and SE from a 2nd story west facing bedroom window.

CBLFT-DT
WPXJ-DT
WGRZ-DT
WBKW-DT
WQHS-DT
WNLO-DT

+ Most if not all Toronto analogues (and a whole bunch from everywhere else).

For those are interested, the FM dial is also booming with Toronto, Buffalo & Erie stations. (WRTS 103.7 is causing interference on CKDK 103.9!)

Was watching 'Earl' on WKBD RF14 Detroit 41 miles away when the picture totally pixelated and then went dark. Rotated around to find flickers and barely got WUTV for the first time! Never before has that channel managed to overcome in SNR and break through. Just under 24 hrs ago i had WCMH overwrite WKBD as well.

Screenshot (http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/dxandmore/TV_DXing/WUTV-DT_FOX_RF14_Buffalo_NY_1983mi-3191km.jpg) - 198.3mi / 319.1km

I don't think it would/should be replaced with a 23.1 from ion, but rather
a 23.x, 23.x, and 23.z, where:

x, y, and z correspond to the the "program number" found in the Program Association Table (PAT) within the stream. WGRZ is the only station I've seen start with a "program number" of 1 in that table.
WGRZ uses Program 1,2,3 in that table, all others around I've seen start with Program3. Think I know why, less likely to get confused with the PSIPs, which always start with 1.

If the program numbers overlap between desired PSIP. X,Y,Z, and some distant PAT X,X,Z, then yeah maybe can get shuffled around/bumped in memory.

example for wpxj, and wnlo below...

Notice one of WPXJ's Programs overlaps that of WNLO,
possibly the confusion he's seein occassionally...like ya said,
room for bugs...

PAT Version Number: 12
Transport Stream ID: 2119 (0x0847)

PMT PID 48 (0x0030) - Program 3 ION
PMT PID 64 (0x0040) - Program 4 qubo
PMT PID 80 (0x0050) - Program 5 IONLife


PAT Version Number: 11
Transport Stream ID: 2137 (0x0859)

PMT PID 48 (0x0030) - Program 3 WNLO-HD

Well, another new first for me. Seen hits on this the past little while with all the tropo, but I finally snagged in WQLN (RF50) out of Erie. For most of you that's most likely not a big deal, but it is for me. I picked it up off of a side lobe of the Gray-Hoverman pointed at Buffalo...and the tropo. Didn't stay around too long though, but long enough to get some screen captures:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_UiD8F79jssM/TFfNSn6hRoI/AAAAAAAABzU/gAsRpUYpJgM/s512/WQLN_rf50.PNG

As mentioned first in this thread: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=127813Experts said the wave of supercharged gas will likely reach the Earth on Tuesday, when it will buffet the natural magnetic shield protecting Earth. It is likely to spark spectacular displays of the aurora or northern and southern lights. "This eruption is directed right at us," said Leon Golub, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "It's the first major Earth-directed eruption in quite some time." Scientists have warned that a really big solar eruption could destroy satellites and wreck power and communications grids around the globe...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7923069/Nasa-scientists-braced-for-solar-tsunami-to-hit-earth.html

It will be interesting to see how this plays out today vis-a-vis OTA reception... :eek:

http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/07/19/severe-space-weather-warning/

Heh, if it wipes out the entire power grid in North America (doomsday scenario) let me take this opportunity to say it has been a great pleasure watching OTA and chatting with youse folks on this discussion board.

:D

Last night at around 10:30 PM I had 5 channels coming in from Toronto here in London, On. Four of them I had seen before, omni1 and 2, global and cblft. But it was the fifth one that amazed me. It was cblt 5-1 on rf 20! What is so amazing about that you might say? Well we have an omni2 broadcasting analogue out of byron and I am only 6 miles from the tower! I flipped on the analogue channel 20 and it was complete snow. CBC toronto totally wiped it out for about 5 or 6 minutes. It was only a news program but the picture quality was excellent. Yesterday was an awesome tropo day all around with channels from cleveland, akron, youngstown, erie, buffalo, rochester, toronto and hamilton all coming in at different times of day, Only to finish the day off with that unlikely Toronto find, I couldn't ask for a better tropo day.

CBC toronto totally wiped it out for about 5 or 6 minutes

I watched the Global 11PM news on Analogue 41 almost clear with NO ghosting or any effect of CBC 40. SUN TV 19 got wiped out for me last night as well.

It will be very interesting to see how this major solar activity will be affecting radio waves on earth over the next 3 days. Hello Tokyo! :p
____________________________________________

Alert from http://spaceweather.com/

CME IMPACT! The first of possibly two incoming CMEs hit Earth's magnetic field today at approximately 1730 UT (1:30 pm EDT). As a result of the impact, a polar geomagnetic storm is brewing. High-lattitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras after nightfall.

COMPLEX ERUPTION ON THE SUN: On August 1st, the entire Earth-facing side of the sun erupted in a tumult of activity. There was a C3-class solar flare, a solar tsunami, multiple filaments of magnetism lifting off the stellar surface, large-scale shaking of the solar corona, radio bursts, a coronal mass ejection and more.

Seeing the sun erupt on such a global scale has galvanized the international community of solar physicists. Researchers are still sorting out the complex sequence of events and trying to understand why they all happened at once.


Geomagnetic Storms: 40 -45% Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field.

Level 7 INTENSE tropo on Wed at noon in Southern Ontario.

Geomagnetic Storms: 40 -45% Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field.

hehe, and keep an eye to the sky, never know, may get blessed
with some "aurora" action...Probly not this far south, but never know unless
ur lookin...

Two new tropo channels for me.

5.1 WEWS
61.1 WQHS

From Cleveland. What's remarkable is that Cleveland is on the other side of the building I live in (I face Toronto) and never had tropos from that direction. All my tropos have been from upstate New York as far as Watertown.

I have my eye on Michigan, I face that direction too and never had any tropo stations from that direction yet. But I'm going to give it a try.

Edit: Okay, crazy tropo. Now I picked up WEAO 49.x which is a PBS station out of Akron, Ohio!

Pictures taken for my tropo trophy case!

http://datalore.ca/sandbox/P8030107.jpg

http://datalore.ca/sandbox/P8030099.jpg