OTA: Lk. Ontario Area DXing, Tropo, Atypical Reception

[Garth J]

dsspredator - It started around 7:45pm and kept on till about 11:30pm. The signals came and went in rapid "spurts"...was surprised to get decent decodes and pics, but they'd go from strong signal to nothing in seconds. Was mind boggling cause I initially thought I had very little hope of bagging DTV through E-skip! Will try to get more pics up via Flickr very soon! (Also check the gallery in my profile on here, a few pics are posted there!)

stampeder - Thanks so much! (BTW, it's great to have you back on the boards!) It was a lucky fluke that I caught CJCB when they showed an ad for a Maritimes telethon! Heh...otherwise it would've looked like any other CTV station! I should post a pic of how I setup the antenna to encourage everyone - it was a very low tech setup, probably not more than 10 feet high, just enough to get the CM3016 in the air somewhat so I could aim it!

[HWP]

You have inspired me, Garth. I have a Wade-Delhi Zip8v in my garage brand new unopened (suburban all-VHF). It sounds like it's in the same league as a 3016. I'll try a temporary setup this summer and see what happens.

[stampeder]

Originally Posted by HWP

I have a Wade-Delhi Zip8v in my garage brand new unopened

Before you put it up I hope there is a way that you could document it's measurements and post them to the Antenna R&D forum - those folks love modelling such classic antennas!

[HWP]

I will do that. Also I have a new 10y6s (with a manufacturing fault). Once I figure out a way to overcome the problems, I'll measure and post the specs on that one, too.

[Garth J]

Heads up everybody! TVO is off the air and right now I'm catching Syracuse, NY's WSYT on RF19!!! Whoooooo! Hope there are some antenna twirlers up this late and get to see it! (I know some Digital Home members caught this last year when TVO went off a few times!) Love it!!!

[Goldielover]

Got WBBZ and sub channels again earlier today - apart from that it was mainly the Erie channels, and one from Rochester. I think the tropo is supposed to be fairly good over the next couple of days, so I'll be scanning when I can pry the kid off it.

[HWP]

Played with the rotator a bit today. Definitely way over fifty channels coming in when factoring in all the scan directions.

Everything from Rochester, some from Syracuse, Erie PBS, and many stations from Cleveland.

New ones for me:

Cleveland:
WKYC 3-1
WXPlus
WEWS 5-1
WEWS LWN 5-2
WQHS 61-1
WFXP 66-1

Utica:
WKTV

Erie:
WJET 24-1

Usual tropo visitors:

Erie:
WQLN 54-1

Syracuse:
WYST 19-1

Rochester:
8, 10, 13, 21, 31, 42

Pretty cool!

By the way, WBBZ is booming in - it does not drop out no matter what direction my antenna is pointed. If you ever wanted to scan for WBBZ on rf7 virtual 67.1 - .4 today might be a good day for it.

[Goldielover]

Was getting good results myself late last night.

03-1 WKYC-HD Cleveland
03-2 WXPLUS Cleveland
05-1 WEWS-HD Cleveland
05-2 WEWSLWN Cleveland
08-1 WROC Rochester
08-2 Bounce Rochester
10-1 CFPL London
12-1 WICU-HD Erie
12-2 WBEP Erie
12-3 WSEE Erie
21-1 WXXI-HD Rochester
21-1 WXXI-W Rochester
21-3 WXXI-C Rochester
24-1 WJET Erie
31-1 CITY Woodstock
42-1 W42CO Rochester
42-2 TCT-HD Rochester
42-3 TCT-FAM Rochester
42-4 Fuente
51-1 ION
51-2 qubo
51-3 IONLife
54-1 WQLN-HD
54-2 WQLN-S1
54-3 WQLN-S2
55-1 WBNX-HD Cleveland
55-2 WBNX-SD Cleveland
55-3 THISTV Cleveland
61-1 WQHS Cleveland
66-1 WFXP Erie
67-1 WBBZ Buffalo
67-2 THISTV Buffalo
67-3 METV Buffalo
67-4 DAYSTAR Buffalo

The only new one was 42 Rochester. That's the first time it has decoded well enough to see what the channel is, although I've seen something trying to come in on that channel before.

Will be trying again later. Tropo is supposed to be pretty good for the next 24 hours or so.

[Garth J]

Wowsa HWP and Goldielover, those are some awesome catches! HWP were you getting WSYT *through* TVO this morning? If so, that's some pretty amazing DX! (Also curious if you could get WTVH through CFMT, since it totally destroys CFMT when Syracuse is strong in my area, even though I can't decode it!)

I got mostly the same list, with a some minor differences

Last night through early AM I picked up:

Rochester, NY - WHEC (RF10), WHAM (RF13), WXXI (RF16), WUHF (RF28) and W42CO (RF42)

Erie, PA - WICU (RF12 - first time seeing it in 2012!), WJET (RF24), WFXP (RF22, but getting thrashed by CHEX Oshawa), WQLN (RF50)

Cleveland, OH - WEWS (RF15), WKYC (RF17), WQHS (RF34), a *brief* look at WBNX (RF30) which faded before I could take pics, and I was also doing backflips when I got WJW (RF8) for the first time on their VHF channel. I used the CM3016 to pull that one in!

The interesting thing was seeing different channels come and go. When Cleveland got super strong, I noticed the Rochester VHF stations were replaced with CFPL (RF10) and CKCO (RF13). When I was playing with the CM3016 I also got Paris' CIII (RF6).

The previous late night / early AM I got Detroit for the first time this tropo season! Got WDIV (RF45) and WMYD (RF21). That was around the same time I was getting WSYT (RF19) when TVO was off the air.

Having a massive tropo hangover today (Heh....crawling into bed around 8am will do that to ya....) But LOVING it!

[Goldielover]

Some longer distance stuff coming in this morning. So far, I've picked up:

10.1 WBNS Columbus
10.2 WBNSTV2 Columbus
45.1 WNEO-D1 Alliance/Akron
45.2 WNEO-D2 Alliance/Akron
45.3 WNEO-D3 Alliance/Akron
45.4 WNEO-D4 Alliance/Akron
53.1 WWHO Columbus

Earlier I had 10.1 CFPL London, but 10.1 WBNS knocked it off. Pleased to see the Columbus channels. Those are the farthest away I've received, and TravelMath puts the distance at 316 miles. This is only the second time I've seen them - the first was Oct. 8 last year when the tropo was just smoking and I picked them up with my indoor Terk HDTVi. And 45 WNEO is another new catch for me.

WQLN and CITY Woodstock were coming in too, but City Woodstock is pretty well a summer regular for me, with WQLN making an appearance most days.

[Goldielover]

So far this evening, Cleveland and Erie came in early, Utica made a rare appearance, and Rochester came in a bit later. It is now after midnight, and I've just started to pick up Columbus, so this is looking like another very interesting evening.

02.1 WKTV Utica
02.2 WKTVD2 Utica
03.1 WSTM Syracuse
03.2 WSTQ Syracuse
03.3 CNY Syracuse
03.1 WKYC Cleveland
03.1 WXPLUS Cleveland
05.1 WEWS Cleveland
05.2 WEWSLWN Cleveland
06.1 WSYX Columbus
06.2 MyTV Columbus
08.1 WROC Rochester
08.2 Bounce Rochester
12.1 WICU Erie
12.2 WBEP Erie
12.3 WSEE Erie
21.1 WXXI-HD Rochester
21.2 WXXI-W Rochester
21.3 WXXI-C Rochester
24.1 WJET Erie
31.1 CITY Woodstock
53.1 WWHO Columbus
54.1 WQLN-HD Erie
54.2 WQLN-S1 Erie
54.2 WQLN-S2 Erie
55.1 WBNX-HD Cleveland
55.2 WBNX-SD Cleveland
55.3 THISTV Cleveland
61.1 WQHS Cleveland
66.1 WFXP Erie

[dsspredator]

Same here!

WGRZ gone.

Tonight show on WKTV.

[Garth J]

Wowsa...I wish I was home to see if I could bag Columbus! Heh...I'm downtowm in a hotel near College/Carlton for Toronto Pride but was such a geek I brought a digital box and a CM4221 clone to play with! Been watching Utica WKTV, Syracuse WSTM plus Rochester thru the night! Hot DX!

[Goldielover]

Utica, Syracuse and Cleveland still coming in this morning, but not as many of them and no sign of Columbus. I don't usually get Utica sticking around this long.

02.1 WKTV Utica
02.2 WKTVD2 Utica
03.1 WSTM Syracuse
03.2 WSTQ Syracuse
03.3 CNY Syracuse
05.1 WEWS Cleveland
05.2 WEWSLWN Cleveland
08.1 WROC Rochester
08.2 Bounce Rochester
09.1 WSYR Syracuse
09.2 WSYR2 Syracuse
12.1 WICU Erie
12.2 WBEP Erie
12.3 WSEE Erie
21.1 WXXI-HD Rochester
21.2 WXXI-W Rochester
21.3 WXXI-C Rochester
31.1 CITY Woodstock
51.1 ION Batavia
51.2 qubo Batavia
51.3 IONLife Batavia
54.1 WQLN-HD Erie
54.2 WQLN-S1 Erie
54.2 WQLN-S2 Erie
61.1 WQHS Cleveland
66.1 WFXP Erie

Garth, I can just imagine the faces of the hotel staff if they saw that CM4221 clone being carried in!! Its not exactly tiny.

[Garth J]

Goldielover, I did get some questions from folks in the elevator when I brought it in! Heh...when I explained what it was for, one guy wished me "good luck" with my reception! Then my eyes popped out when I got it set up and started getting Rochester, Utica & Syracuse from a tiny room on the 4th floor of the Holiday Inn on College/Carlton! Here's the full list of catches:

Utica - WKTV (RF29), WUTR (RF30) and the rare WFXV (RF27)
Syracuse - WSTM (RF24), WSYR (RF17)
Rochester - WXXI (RF16), WUHF (RF28), WROC (RF45) and W42CO (RF42)

You're right that Utica was super strong Friday night/early Saturday. It was so strong that I even saw a "blink" on RF22, which I suspect is the low power WCNY repeater in Utica!

I caught a great station ID for WFXV:



I also created a mini album of my catches, plus a couple pics of me adjusting the antenna which can be found here:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/album.php?albumid=1020

It was an awesome experience, and proves that great DX can be had even in unusual circumstances