Yeah, my digital was screwed earlier tonight, too. I could get the digital signal for CBS Erie pretty well, but I couldn't even pick up Buffalo or Toronto! All I could pick up was CBC because I'm so close to the CN Tower.

Well, things seem to be settling down now. I hate to say this, but hopefully we lose all these other channels, so we can get our regular ones back. :/

I wish we could have both, but oh well.

So yesterday afternoon a Spanish language station showed up on 61.1 WQHS-DT. Turns out it is in Cleveland, no interest in the station- don't understand Spanish- just thought it strange since at the same time I couldn't get the Toronto stations.

Tropo!

setup:

terrestrial db8 -- on my chimney
channelmaster rotor
panasonic viera with atsc tuner

usually get all the Buffalo & Toronto stations...

G.

After I posted a couple of nights back, I went back upstairs & continued scanning & manually entering channels according to channel lists for Ohio on the FCC site. I ended up getting

WEWS-DT 15 (remap to 5-1) Cleveland, OH
WJW-DT 31 (remap to 8-1) Cleveland, OH
WQHS analogue 61 (very clear) Cleveland, OH
WGTE analogue 30 (very clear) Toledo, OH
WRGT analogue 45 (cutting in and out every few minutes) Dayton, OH
WOAC analogue 67 (shopping channel) Canton, OH

These stations were coming in for a couple of hours. I also received a CH68 from somewhere. I doubt it was Syracuse, since it's the wrong way from all the tropo.

CH67 is especially suprising to me, since CH67 is already fought over by two stations in my area - WNGS from S. Buf, & a CH repeater. The channel is usually a mess from the two conflicting signals, while once in a while one will "win out". This time they both lost out to a much more distant signal.

I wonder how I would have done if my 4221 had been outside, instead of in my attic facing SSE (away from tropo stations).

I got a nice tropo skip on my car radio this and last week just driving through Calgary....

Picked up WCCO 830 AM 50,000 watts Minneapolis (1700km)
Also KGO 810 AM 50,000 watts from San Francisco (1600km)
And KIRO 710 AM 50,000 watts from Seattle (700km)
And KSL 1160 AM 50,000 watts from Salt Lake City (1150km)

Must be something in the air ;)

I've always had good AM radio DXing in Alberta and the Interior of BC at night time. I posted about that once before:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=50175

well now that all the DXing weather has gone away, i'm finally able to see what my actual results are with my new preamp. which are. the exact same. garbage. absolute garbage.

so i've wasted another 40$ on buying a better preamp, to see that it's performance is the exact same as the old one, and therefore the old one wasn't even broken.

and I still don't know what the problem is. My city-hd reception is 20%. Used to be 50%, for the longest time, all summer long.

i've eliminated the cable, now i've eliminated the preamp, supposely the CM4228's don't just 'go' my next idea is to buy a cheap 300% TV somewhere with a built in HD tuner, test it out, then take it back. That way i can eliminate my tuner as being the problem.

We're starting to see some complaints/disappointment in the OTA Forums from some people about the effects of tropo and skip, especially given some of the strange events over the last week in Southern Ontario. Tuner scans are giving confusing results because of the atmospheric effects, so regularly available digital channels are sometimes overwhelmed by distant analogue and digital stations.

If the tropo problems are continuing for you and you are using a CM4228, think about switching to a yagi like a Winegard PR9032, Wade-Delhi CYD-1470, or Channel Master 4248. These antennas are extremely tight-beamed and directional with great gain, and are well known for drastically curtailing back door and side lobe problems. Some of the smaller bowtie reflectors like the CM4221 and Wade-Delhi 4BT-1483 have tighter beams than the CM4228 too. You'd probably lose some all-around reception performance, but you'd likely get rid of the unwanted signals problem. The downside is that yagis can be fidgetty to aim on a rotor the farther the station is away.

As much as I love and recommend big bowtie reflectors like the CM4228 for all purpose near-to-deepest fringe use, there are situations where a yagi or a smaller bowtie reflector wins.

I'm not saying its necessary to switch - its just an option if you're unhappy with tropo and skip effects. Besides, in today's marketplace your used CM4228 would sell right away! :)

I think at this point where your experiences and this thread have reached a dead end I'd recommend a professional site survey, with pro gear.

It was 026163's old ATSC tuner that was under-performing all along. A brand new one made a huge difference:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=460916&postcount=239

In Brampton OTA tv some new signals.

31-1 WUHF-DT
31-2 TheTUBE.......from Rochester, NY. not unheard of, but new to me

26-1 WNYB-DT......from Jamestown, NY. another 'new to me' station

3-1 WPSU-HD........from Clearfield, PA. Pennsyvannia State University PBS
3-2 WPSU-D1
3-3 WPSU-D2

Rochester is not all that rare during tropo. Jamestown is pretty far compared to my usual Buffalo reception.
Clearfield, PA., however is about 3 times as far away as Brampton-Buffalo.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to receive picture and sound. All the same, about 400 km Brampton-Clearfield!

Hi everyone. I finally got an OTA HDTV signal (1st one) from Cleveland on my HDTV set but I am north of London Ontario. Can it skip that far? Thanks.

danbcman and hamann, I've noticed some minor tropo effects over the last couple of days so I'm sure its atmospheric as this clear front moved in off the Pacific. My CM4228 is pointed almost due north at Mt. Seymour with large cedars about 10 feet behind it blocking the way south, yet I was getting analogue signals from SeaTac with clear sound and snowy pictures due to this weather. I rarely get SeaTac stations like that normally.

If you're new to tropospheric skip and other weather-related effects check out the thread for it in the main OTA Forum. As 4DTV HD has pointed out in the past, its rare that we get it on the west coast. When it happens, signals can rise and drop quite suddenly and with no rhyme or reason.

Well right now it is coming in FOx with a 1280 x 720 broadcast on the indoor antenna. I get an odd stutter when I do a little recording but other than that it is really nice.

I'm still getting strong SeaTac signals today, with 39 being almost lockable with my north-facing CM4228!

It would be really nice if KIRO comes in this good (80% on 9200) for the Super Bowl on Sunday...even KOMO is coming in at 69% today.

I'm still getting strong SeaTac signals today, with 39 being almost lockable with my north-facing CM4228!
Have you noticed any change today

Super tropo right now.
Picking up Detroit Stations

3-1 wstm
3-2 wstq
3-4 tube
45-1 FOX
44-1 ?
7-1 wwny
7-2 wnyf
10-1 whec
13-2 Wham
8-1 Wroc
59-1 ? 58-1 ?

Using CM4221 in attic + hdtv wonder +taco amp
Location,milton ont.:D

FOX Wutv IS Blocked for me so is MYTV
But the distant channels are fine

Now getting,
WXXI 21-1 -2-3-4 82 %
WUHF 31-1 50%

Yes, it's great tonight. Thanks for the heads up, Ohmicron.
Isn't that PBS WXXI HD just beautiful to look at? Much nicer than the Buffalo WNED PBS feed of the same show.

3-1 WSTM is from Syracuse. This is a new channel for me. That's much further east/south-east of me than Rochester (8-1 WROC DT).
(Last big troppo brought a different 3-1 to me. WPSU HD which is PBS from Clearfield Penn. which is south of me)

All in all, good fun!