Be sure to read the Who will win the OTA DX Miles/KMs derby for 2009? (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=106676) thread! :D

Did any other areas lose tv signals tonight?

At 6:45pm I lost all signals on all channels [DTV & analog] for about 4 minutes. When it came back on, I'm now missing cbc 5.1, suntv 15.1, cts 36.1

My neighbour had the same thing happen on his TV at the same time.

:confused: ? twilight zone maybe ? :confused:

Probably some form of massive local interference. (or tropo gone-bad on every frequency, lol)
The chances of every channel going at once.. next to none unless there's a power outage like we had in '03, but then you wouldn't have a TV to watch with, would you? :P

Apparently we had some power surging/ or shorting from a transformer out at the road that may have caused some power leakage to the ground in the surrounding area. My tower and antenna may have built up a stactic charge through the radiated ground current. Unfortunately my 0064 pre-amp head at the antenna did not survive the event. Now I have a spare power supply though ;)

Would a power bar made a difference?

I use power bars and the amp is supposed to be surge protected. It didn't harm the power inserter, but it damaged the 0064 head. The problem was that power from the roadside hydro pole/transformer malfunctioned and it was leaking into the ground for about 120 feet around the hydro pole area. My tower is only about 100 feet from that hydro pole.

For the past few months I've had a constant pixelation glitch about every 20seconds on channel 7.1 wkbw. That glitch is gone now, so maybe the leakage into the ground from that hydro pole was charging up my antenna with static and that may be what was causing those small bursts of interference.

Hmmmm, I have the exact same issues with WKBW 7.1 but ONLY on my DTVPal DVR. The other TV's in the house are fine, as are all other channels on the DTVPal DVR. In fact, Echostart said they were aware of the issue...

What kind of tuner are you using with no glitches? Do you think it is because you are not pre-amped any more?

I wonder if we are on to something here?

I put a new amp head on this morning. I have cm7000 on a 32" lcd and a rj-tech on another small tv. The problem is gone on both sets. Hydro leaking into the ground from buried lines is not un-common, but many other things can cause static build-up within your system. In-line coaxial grounding blocks should normally be enough to deal with any static discharges, but this was a creeping low voltage leaking into the ground.

I am grounded to the hilt. However, in my case, it still would not explain why 3 of 4 TV's do not exhibit the WKBw issue. One would expect at least one more to show the same symptoms if it were static or LLV.

The frequent loss of CBC has been a downside to DXing over the past week. WEWS from Ohio locks in to the CBC 5.1 allotment position.

The frequent loss of CBC has been a downside to DXing over the past week. WEWS from Ohio locks in to the CBC 5.1 allotment position.
I ran into a similar issue recently when WFXP-DT was coming in, as was CKXT-DT; both of which map to 66.1. My set simply set the second channel as 66.2.

Poor tuner firmware, not allowing two virtual channels of the same number. The two stations are on different physical frequencies, & should not conflict.

Poor tuner firmware, not allowing two virtual channels of the same number. The two stations are on different physical frequencies, & should not conflict.
Agreed. In my case I have seen KDKA-DT from Pittsburgh with a DTV channel somewhere in the 40's map to channel 2-1 on my Panasonic television. I also have WJBK-DT from Detroit which is on channel 58 but it remaps to 2-1. They both show and stay on my PSIP.
Now I have seen the CBS DTV channel from Youngstown, Oh on 41 remap to 27-1 but when Detroit's WXYZ-HD also on 41 remaps to 7-1 then I lose the PISP for he Youngstown channel or vise versa; dependant on which has the strongest signal strength.
Mark

(with apologies to experienced DXers, who will not read anything new here - this purpose of this post is to encourage "new" DXers):

Very soon, the 2009 sporadic-E "skip" season should begin. Sporadic-E (also known as E-skip or Es) sometimes appears in the second week of May, and, about the 22nd of May, becomes common through the end of July.

Sporadic-E is a completely different kind of DX than the Tropospheric refraction usually discussed on this thread, caused by completely unrelated phenomena, and usually not occurring at the same time (unless by rare, pure coindicence).

The appeal of sporadic-E is its ability to provide STRONG propagation paths over great distances. In the case of television DX, it strongly favours stations about 1600km from the receive site (in fact, TV DX by sporadic-E -closer- than 1200km is quite rare).

To exploit Es, you will have to DX in a different way. For all practical purposes, the only TV channels affected are channel 6 and below (with channel 2 being the best). When it happens, it is a random occurrence, but will usually be between 10 AM and 10PM local daylight time (with openings being especially likely between 6 PM and 9 PM).

Since there is no way to predict when Es occurs, the way to DX by sporadic-E is to frequently check a TV set (with an antenna that can receive lowband VHF channels) on channels 2 and 3, especially during Summer days. Signals that fade "in and out" and signals with ghosting are usually a sign of sporadic-E (though steady ghost-free DX sometimes occurs, too).

Keep in mind that this is your LAST CHANCE to DX full power analog stations from the USA by sporadic-E. After transition, TV DX become more exotic, but far more rare. Canadian DXers (other than in Southwest Ontario) will be too far north for any "single hop" DX from Mexico or Cuba.

Good luck with your DX!
Rob

I'm a little late in posting this, but I was receiving WQLN PBS from Erie Pennsylvania again this past Tuesday (technically early Wed, as it started coming in around 3:30am!) I noticed that some things had changed since the last time I caught it. The first time I received it, there were three channels all running different things. 54-1 was WQLN-HD, 54-2 WQLN-S1 was something called Q-LIFE, and 54-3 WQLN-S2 was running different shows compared to either of the other two. (One site had it listed as PBS West)

This time 54-1 and 54-3 were running the same programs, although 54-1 was HD, and 54-3 was SD. The SD feed just lopped off the sides of the picture, rather than letterboxing it. 54-2, as mentioned upthread, is now PBS Create. The PSIP info was also wrong on 54-1, listing programs that weren't matching up at all with what was shown (though the info was correct for 54-3.)

I was also *close* to catching WFXP for the first time, but alas, it was too weak to show up. But I did take a pic of my signal meter flashing on Channel 22 to show it was trying to come in. (I also think CHEX 22 analog from Oshawa interferes.)

@Panamark - your gallery is amazing! You've gotten some amazing DX results and I love your Flickr photo albums. Everyone should take a look at these pics! Heh....Especially impressive is the Fort Wayne, Indiana FOX station! BTW, being in London, how often do you get the Erie stations like WQLN and WFXP? I saw some pics in your gallery and wondered if they come in regularly, or just in DXing times.

@recneps77 - You mentioned the blackout of 2003. The funny thing was that I *was* able to watch TV that day. I'd bought a cheap 5" B&W TV for fun, and when I came home from work after the blackout had hit, my parents had put batteries into the TV to see if they could get any news. Soon enough I'd connected it to a pair of rabbit ears, and was pulling in most analog Buffalo stations. CBC was having tons of trouble with their generator, and the picture kept going off and on, but WGRZ was stable and NBC news was even interviewing Mel Lastman about the blackout effecting Toronto. I also watched a full episode of Without A Trace on WIVB.

i remember the blackout of 2003. I was able to lock on to a solid-clear WJW-TV 8 at my grandfather's place in Forest Glade, becuase WXYZ-TV 7 and CBET-TV 9 were knocked off the air. I did *so* much DXing over that week.... got most of the cleveland stations and a couple from lansing, and WJRT 12 from Flint

Is it a DX day right now? My DTVPalDVR reported five new stations today, including Jamestown NY.

Is it a DX day right now? My DTVPalDVR reported five new stations today, including Jamestown NY.
well that depends. I don't see where you are from.
I would suspect though that they are, as they are not normal channels for the T.O. area

Hah! Well there you have it. Not even the largest blackout can stop TV!
I would've thought they'd have nowhere near the generator capacity to keep broadcasting. Though I suppose if most stations are down, there would be a lot less interference and you'd need less power to transmit effectively (similar to Ringtailedfox's experience)

being in London, how often do you get the Erie stations like WQLN and WFXP? I saw some pics in your gallery and wondered if they come in regularly, or just in DXing times.
@Garth J
I have to this date only picked up these stations once. Mind you, I really have not got the antenna pointed towards Erie. The one time I thought I had the antenna pointed towards Erie but I ended up picking up Pittsburgh and Youngstown as I did not have it quite pointed far enough. At this point I might trek up to the attic an point it towards Erie but I am enjoying the two antenna set up I have. Pointing towards Cleveland and Detroit works alright for me. My record for most digital channels found on an auto scan has been 25 channel's. Keep in mind there were a lot of sub channels figured in that find, but still pretty decent for being over 100 miles from transmitter sites.
Thanks for taking a look at my pics over at Flicr. I appreciate your interest as you and I have the same passion. When I check your blog I always get a good laugh at your descriptions and captions along with the pics. Love seeing the Panasonic PISP too! Nice television for Dxing I say....

Take care
Mark