Wednesday evening around 10 pm I ran a scan on my CM7000 converter box and it found WXXI and WROC. I'm in south Mississauga (Cawthra and Queensway) and get the expected Toronto and Buffalo stations normally, so I had to google those unfamiliar stations and realized I was picking up 2 from Rochester! Surprising for a homemade Hoverman positioned indoors that doesn't have reflector rods on it yet. Unfortunately they didn't come in strong enough to watch, but the CM7000 knew they were there.
Just curious how high off the ground you are. I'm in North York (Allen - Lawrence W) with a SBGH indoors. CDN OTA's are no problem but only the CW23 (WNLO) is as reliable as the CDN OTA's. My biggest problem is height and trees. May experiment w/o reflector rods.

well, my antenna was apparently damaged during the recent windstorms, because the pre-amp no longer works properly. I lost CBET-TV 9 (analog, 15 miles SE of me), WJBK-DT 7 (18 miles NW of me), and WPXD-DT (31, 50 miles W of me)... i'm going to need some suggestions on a new outdoor tower-based antenna so my father and i can still watch the detroit (and hopefully toledo) locals. he's quite angry that WJBK isnt' on UHF, since it always dropped out before, and doesn't even show up now on the UHF-only antenna.

My situation is rather odd, as 3 power lines cross my back yard, and my mother doesn't want holes drilled in our brand-new roof. I'm worried about lightning strikes (windsor is the lightning/electrical storm capital of canada) and proper grounding and protection, and i'm also worried if i have only one antenna, and we have two televisions trying to watch stations from say, Toledo and Detroit, the antenna will malfunction. what would the best ground, pre-amp, balun, and antenna be for me? I want one powerful enough to pick up WUPW and WNWO from toledo (if possible).

I figured something real strange was going on late tonight. Around 6pm this evening everything was fine and all the local channels were strong like they should be. Zero tropo for the last 5 or so days even Cleveland was mia. At 11pm when I turned the TV back on the watch news and late night programming the signal strength for more than a few local stations were mysteriously weak or they were gone completely.

WDIV-DT extremely weak to gone
WTVG-DT gone on and off
WTOL-DT very weak <- usually very stable
WWJ-DT gone to extremely weak
+more

I then checked the usual tropo channels to the west and noticed not much of anything going on. Not even the first channel that usually appears with light tropo (WLNS Lansing). After about 10-20 minutes while channel surfing I passed over ION 23-1 a tropo channel from Akron, OH when it remapped to 2-1 WBAY-DT FOX/Wx/Rtn from Green Bay, WI on RF23!. It only lasted a few mins before disappearing.

I have no way tonight of uploading the screenshots but that may be a new record here. 217 miles is my current digital DX record. (WNYO-DT)

we'll see....tomorrow I will post the pictures and distance to that station in my DX gallery and put the links here.

YIKES!

I read the tropo forecast and noticed it was supposed to be hot in my area tonight, and I saw flickering on RF 29. I threw the antenna into the "Utica/Syracuse" position thinking it was WKTV, but the flicker went dead. So I put the antenna back to where the flicker was strongest (the "Cleveland/Detroit" position) and saw the signal get stronger until it came through for about 2 minutes as Chicago's WMAQ!!! I couldn't even tell it was WMAQ at first because the PSIP shows it as just "NBC5" - but a friend was on the phone and Wikipedia'd NBC affiliates on digital 29. Then I saw the weather subchannel which confirmed it was Chicago. Those in Markham / GTA who are awake should aim towards Chicago and see if it comes in. It barreled in only briefly, but still flickers off and on. This is a whopping 446.25 miles away from me!!! I think I may finally have something to throw into the ring for the DXing distance contest :) Pics to come!

Current weather (from Weather Network): Buttonville Airport, 16 °C, A few clouds, Wind: N 6km/h, Relative Humidity: 88%, Pressure: 102.08 kPa, Visibility: 24.0 km, Ceiling: unlimited

first of all, awesome catch there guys on the recent tropo!
of coarse I went to bed at 9:30 last night on account I had to work early today.
Just wondering what could have been....


sad in London...lol

Here are the screen shots from last night pertaining to just a couple posts back (post #1064)

This is my new record digital DX as of now at 314.73 miles / 506.52 kms
WBAY-DT ABC 2 Green Bay, WI on RF23

Normally I wouldn't clutter up a thread like this and would use links instead but since this is the farthest digital catch I figured what the hell...

WBAY-HD 2-1
http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/dxandmore/TV_DXing/WBAY-DT_ABC-HD_RF23_Green_Bay_WI-1.jpg

WBAY-DT2 WX 2-2
http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/dxandmore/TV_DXing/WBAY-DT2_WX_RF23_Green_Bay_WI_314mi.jpg

WBAY-DT3 Retro TV Network 2-3
http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/dxandmore/TV_DXing/WBAY-DT3_RTN_RF23_Green_Bay_WI_314m.jpg

Alternate showing state lottery information
WBAY-HD #2 (http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/dxandmore/TV_DXing/WBAY-DT_ABC-HD_RF23_Green_Bay_WI_31.jpg)

and a map of the exact distance from here to WBAY tower location
Distance (http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/dxandmore/TV_DXing/Dist_to_Green_Bay_WBAY-DT.png)

WOW! extreme distance skip right now! I just now topped my all time record from just 24 hours ago. Had this channel for about a minute. My first ever digital DX from the 'K' prefix station ID's. This station is in the central timezone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KWQC-TV

Now standing as the longest DX record for me here is this channel @ 404 miles or 650 km
KWQC-DT NBC affiliate for Davenport/Quad Cities, Iowa using RF36

screen shots
KWQC-DT NBC HD 6-1 (http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/dxandmore/TV_DXing/KWQC-DT_NBC-HD_RF36_Davenport_IA-1.jpg)
KWQC-DT NBC HD 6-1 #2 (http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/dxandmore/TV_DXing/KWQC-DT_NBC-HD_RF36_Davenport_IA_40.jpg)
KWQC-DT2 Wx sub channel 6-2 (http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/dxandmore/TV_DXing/KWQC-DT2_WX_RF36_Davenport_IA_404mi.jpg)
Exact distance to KWQC tower map (http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/dxandmore/TV_DXing/Dist_to_KWQC-DT_Tower.png)

It even got past and replaced WLNS via PSIP from Lansing also on RF36!

....while getting the screen shots transferred and uploaded I found that WDWO-CA 18 analog from Detroit was about 100 percent snow which is rare so i deleted that channel and searched for a digital channel on RF18 and lo and behold I picked this up for under a minute. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAND

WAND-DT NBC affiliate for Springfield/Decatur, IL @ 356 miles or 574 km

screen shots
WAND-DT NBC-HD 17-1 (http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/dxandmore/TV_DXing/WAND-DT_NBC-HD_RF18_Springfield-Dec.jpg)
WAND-DT2 Wx sub channel 17-2 (http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/dxandmore/TV_DXing/WAND-DT2_WX_RF18_Springfield-Decatu.jpg)
Exact distance to WAND tower map
(http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/dxandmore/TV_DXing/Dist_to_WAND-DT_Tower.png)
Talk about the right place at the right time tonight...

Hey everybody,

Here are the pics!

@ PanaMark - don't feel too badly. I also have that fear of missing out on a great DXing day, but sometimes I stay up all night and nothing much comes in (heh...like tonight....) Earlier today I had to force myself to leave the house for work when Chicago was still trying to come in during the afternoon!

@ Phil81 - great catches! I can only claim WMAQ, but you got tons of new stations! Great pics!

So without further ado, here is WMAQ (NBC) Chicago, RF 29, virtual 5 which is 446.25 miles away from my home (according to HDTV Magazine's site). They identify only as "NBC5" in the PSIP which baffled me at first!

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/picture.php?albumid=228&pictureid=1426

Luckily, they had a weather subchannel, which confirmed it was Chicago:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/picture.php?albumid=228&pictureid=1427

The signal drifted out fairly quickly, but I got a shot of the O'Hare weather just before it went.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/picture.php?albumid=228&pictureid=1428

Hopefully we'll get some more amazing days before the season is over!

that's it....just ran up to the roof and pointed to Detroit direction, and as suspected they are coming in and out here at 4:30PM. Wonder what tonight will bring....

well so far I have gotten
6-1 WLNS-TV from Lansing Michigan

but this one puzzles me
analog channel 66
it looks like a sattelite channel perhaps from a neighbours house bleeding through the air?
it says
Attention 013
This is a subscription channel which has not been purchased. To purchase please call 1-800-XXX-DISH. Press the "UP" or "DOWN" button to change the channel.

@ Pana

WLNS is easiest. Usually the first channel I see with tropo most times. They are at 1000kW on 36.

That ch 66 station you got is a low power TBN analog for Detroit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W66BV
Obviously they get the signal from satellite and this isn't the first time this message has appeared.

That ch 66 station you got is a low power TBN analog for Detroit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W66BV
Obviously they get the signal from satellite and this isn't the first time this message has appeared.
Pretty sure even though theY get a satellite feed it is not coming through Dish network.

Typically networks have well protected feeds sent to affiliate stations on other satellites.

Unless this is really, really low brow stuff.

ah, WLNS-TV RF 36 just remapped to 55-1 WFFT-HD Fort Wayne Indianna at 8:30 PM this evening.
Can anyone say Football......
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/picture.php?albumid=120&pictureid=1431

ah just for the heck of it....
WLNS-TV from last night
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/picture.php?albumid=120&pictureid=1432

So is the feed on analog 66 from one of my neighbours dishes? leakage? or like Phil said from Detroit's W66BV.

it's from W66BV. since march, they've been having tons of issues because they get their signal not via coax or fiber-optical line, but rather delivered by StarChoice to their antenna at the roof of the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit, MI.

Trinity Broadcasting should consider turning it into a full-powered stand-alone station, since the method of satellite-fed delivery obviously does not work (Equity, for example, feeds nearly all its stations by satellite, and whenever storms roll in, they go black with the green letters "NO SIGNAL" on the screen. how lame!).

This happens every so often with W66BV, and i don't know why. I don't really care, as it's just a religious station i don't watch. if it's signal leakage, it must be rather large, becuase i see the same thing you guys do. :P

Hey everybody!

I can't say tonight's tropo is anywhere near the craziness of catching Chicago, IL, but there is a nice opening to Erie, PA tonight! I was able to catch WSEE on RF 16 for the first time. This is a rare catch for me, as normally Rochester's WXXI wipes out any shot at WSEE (the past month, I've watched it on WICU's 12-3 subchannel, but this was the first time seeing it on it's own frequency!) Also caught the WICU triology on 12-1, 12-2, 12-3. And strong WQLN on 54-1, 54-2, 54-3. No real signs of any Upstate NY tropo (no Rochester, which helped me get WSEE.) :)

@ PanaMark - neat catches on RF 36.....I'm just getting used to the craziness of when channels overwrite themselves on a Panasonic TV. Tonight I watched as WXXI vanished and re-named itself WSEE-DT! I think that'll last a short time, since WXXI is one of my most frequently received tropo channels!

ah, WLNS-TV RF 36 just remapped to 55-1 WFFT-HD Fort Wayne Indianna at 8:30 PM this evening.
Can anyone say Football......hmm.. the same thing happened here within the last 2 months. I have never seen it since though. Got it in my DX gallery homepage.

@ Garth J
Nothin' at all tonight down here.

Your tropo results are just unbelievable with your modest setup. Great elevation is your friend! My jaw just dropped when you beat me by a small margin with WMAQ Chicago while I got Green Bay. I believe your record is the longest documented so far. Congrats!

My jaw just dropped when you beat me by a small margin with WMAQ Chicago while I got Green Bay. I believe your record is the longest documented so far. Congrats!
your jaw dropped, I was flipping floor by both your feats!
Truly amazing results from both of you's. Thanks for sharing your results with us.

Got all those Syracuse channels at around 60 - 70% for about 2 hours this morning.

Wish I had the Dehi tower up and running at home (still up at my friends place). It would be great to finally get NBC-HD & FOX-HD on a more regular basis.

Got a solid signal of Buffalo in Ottawa tonight. WGRZ might as well be a local channel.

At 11pm I got this rare channel on and off for about 20 minutes

Ft Wayne @ 150mi/241km http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/picture.php?albumid=300&pictureid=1457
for some reason they do the news in digital widescreen which was a little blurry

Other than that just a couple more tropo regulars from central and west MI.

OTOH whatever other digital that is also on RF44 in a W-NW direction, totally obliterated CBS Detroit even while facing their tower! damn.. it just had to take out the new HD Late Late show too. http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/images/icons/icon8.gif

Decided to semi-retire my old coat hanger and wood DB-4 and branch out with a new home made extended SBGH (still mostly coat hangers and wood, but added some solid copper for the driven element).

Last night was the first real chance for half decent tropo since I built the SBGH and I was rewarded with my first pull of WKTV Utica, roughly 195 miles away.

Looked like I was also right on the edge of pulling in WSKG but it never quite made it. Also was very close to getting something on RF15 which I have never seen before. No idea wha tthat was.

Have to build something that is outdoor suitable and convince the wife to let me put something out. Although I have had some good pulls they are all from an interior room to this point.

I envy the people that have managed to pull in Green Bay/Chicago/Fort Wayne!