OTA: Lk. Ontario Area DXing, Tropo, Atypical Reception - Page 10 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

dsspredator · 2012-08-03, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garth J

WHAM, RF13

WHAM's HD news looks really good!

Last night my Panasonic plasma scanned 59 digitals (at 11pm) from Cleveland to Rochester.
When you get 4 PBS stations with 2 subs channels add up fast.

WEWS scanned in with CBLT but labelled it as WEWS.

Goldielover · 2012-08-03, 10:49 AM

Garth, I was picking up those tropo channels at about 9:00 - 10.00 a.m. yesterday morning. Surprised the heck out of me, as the good stuff is usually earlier than that. I lost WGRZ (which is not the steadiest channel for me) so decided to scan to see what was about, and all that stuff popped up.

Was pumped all day. Just the usual stuff last night and this morning - some Rochester, Erie and Cleveland stations. STILL no WHAM or WHEC, but did pick up WICU Erie, so have now added a 7th NBC channel to my Olympics watching scoreboard.

Obviously using the C2V on the balcony this summer has netted me more catches than last summer when I was using the HDTVi indoors. I had some good catches with it (WHIZ Zanesville and WGBU Bowling Green come to mind) but the C2V is a stronger antenna when used outdoors. Indoors it is fairly equivalent to the Terk.

va3saj · 2012-08-04, 12:43 AM

Hi Guys:

Great night for tropo up here in Barrie. I'm running an AntennasDirect91XG on top of a DMX-68 tower (about 70-75 feet up, with a MA5B Ham Radio Minibeam and HD-6055 FM antenna on a Yeasu G800DXA Rotor) going into a Tivax STB-T8. Normally I can get all the Toronto Channels reliably, and Some Buffalo ones. My complete (normal list) is here:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/show...39#post1415639

Anyway, I swung the antenna around Southwest and wow...the Erie/Cleveland channels are all rolling in, with all the subchannels too. Now we are getting:

3 WKYC Cleveland (NBC)
5 WEWS Cleveland (ABC)
20 WMYD Detroit (MyTV)
24 WJET Erie (ABC)
27 WBGU Bowling Green Ohio (PBS)
30 WGTE Toledo (PBS)
50 WQLN Erie (PBS)
61 WQHS Cleveland (Ind)
66 WFXP Erie (Fox)

Spinning it SE I can get the Rochester ones too, but i get those semi-reliably (Paticularly PBS) So I won't bother putting them here. Have fun, people!

VA3SAJ

mnx · 2012-08-08, 09:13 PM

Great night for Tropo here!
'
Picking up 30.1 CKWS from Kingston, ON from Hamilton!

(Unless CKWS is testing from Toronto or something...)

Brightonian · 2012-08-08, 09:48 PM

30.1 is a CKWS repeater in Brighton, ON.

It doesn't have strong signal though... so that
is a good catch.

Goldielover · 2012-08-08, 11:20 PM

Agree - VERY nice catch!! I'm jealous.

As you are in Hamilton, it may actually be easier for you to get that one than it would be for someone in Toronto, as for you the signal would be mainly travelling over Lake Ontario, while for us here in Toronto it would be mainly overland. I know that can make a big difference. I routinely get channels in Syracuse and Utica, both of which are further to the east than Brighton is, but on the south side of the lake, while I almost never pick up any channels to the east which are on the north side of the lake. I am west facing, which makes the eastern channels harder still. I did once pick up a Peterborough channel, but that was during a night of very wild tropo conditions, and I was actually aiming my antenna in a completely different direction at the time, trying to see if I could pick up anything from Kitchener other than the TVO repeater on 28.1, which is a regular for me anyways.

So far tonight I'm mainly picking up Erie and Rochester.

mnx · 2012-08-09, 10:34 AM

Nifty I saw from tvfool.com that is was about 60 miles away from Kingston. So Brighton eh? That's pretty neat! >200km!

I've only got a 4bay / 2bay combo combined from Dr. Sat to get all of Toronto and buffalo without a rotor. No fancy 8 bay or anything like that... An 8bay with a rotor would be fun for nights like last night.

I should point out that I'm in Ancaster, so I've got a fair amount of terrain before I get to the lake.

Other than CKWS, I didn't see any new signals. 49.1 and 51.1,2,3,4 were both totally stable last night which is very rare. That's what gave me the idea to do a signal scan.

Goldielover · 2012-08-09, 12:44 PM

You don't need a big 8 bay to do some great DXing. You mainly need great conditions, and good luck in choosing the right time to scan, as conditions can change moment to moment. I've picked up Indianapolis with a Clearstream 2V on my tenth floor balcony, which is 440 miles according to TravelMath. Last year I even got Columbus with an indoor Terk HDTVi, which is 316 miles.

You'd probably have fun with a rotor, though. I'm assuming you are largely facing east, and there's some pretty good stuff that comes in from the west.

DrSat · 2012-08-09, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mnx

Great night for Tropo here!
'
Picking up 30.1 CKWS from Kingston, ON from Hamilton!

(Unless CKWS is testing from Toronto or something...)

Also received 30.1 CKWS over here in Oakville during the same time. I guess the lake really helps in pulling weak signals like this.

The last time I saw CKWS come in was during a customer install in Hamilton last year I believe.

Brightonian · 2012-08-09, 09:11 PM

No tropo tonight.... it's like Winter reception!

Goldielover · 2012-08-09, 09:34 PM

Can blame that cold front for that. According to the dxinfo forecasts, there probably won't be too much tropo for the next few days. Hopefully we will still get some more good periods before the season ends. Last year I got some of my best results in October.

On the plus side - tonight WGRZ is remaining stable. Lately during periods of strong tropo I've usually ended up losing it, and then had to hunt for another NBC channel to watch the Olympics on (if CFTO didn't have anything on I wanted to watch).

Goldielover · 2012-08-12, 11:01 PM

The Olympics have ended for another four years. I have been combining Olympic viewing with some DXing. My final tally for NBC channels I have viewed the games on is seven.

02.1 WGRZ Buffalo
02.1 WKTV Utica
03.1 WKYC Cleveland
03.1 WSTM Syracuse
11.1 WPXI Pittsburgh
12.1 WICU Erie
33.1 WISE Fort Wayne

There were a few I didn't get that I was hoping to, namely 4.1 WCMH Columbus, 10.1 WHEC Rochester, or 18.1 WHIZ Zanesville. I just missed out on WHIZ - it did show up during the games as reported by others, but not at a time I happened to be scanning. At least that gives me something to try for in four years time.

dsspredator · 2012-08-26, 10:01 AM

I saw CIII RF 6 for the first time last night.

But I receive 13 (CTV) and 28 (TVO) almost everyday.

Garth J · 2012-08-28, 01:25 AM

Hot night so far! Been catching Detroit & Cleveland with a new catch!

From Detroit it was my first time getting WDWO on RF18! Also saw WDIV (RF45).

Getting Cleveland/Akron, OH too with WEWS (RF15), WKYC (RF17), WUAB (RF28), WBNX (RF30) and WQHS (RF34)

Erie peeked in with WICU (RF12)

Also getting strong Southwestern Ontario with CIII Paris (RF6), OMNI London (RF48), CFPL (RF10) and CKCO (RF13).

Swing those antennas everybody

Goldielover · 2012-08-28, 09:49 PM

Nice pick up on the Detroit channels, Garth. I've never received so much as a sniff of anything from Detroit.

Suspect I might be blocked by a building, as I usually have better luck with channels more to the southwest. Still, maybe some day I will get lucky and pick something up from Detroit. Something to look forward to. I mainly got the usual suspects in from Erie and Cleveland. Nothing new. I did pick up CFPL from London. I was hoping for 06.1 CIII Paris, as I've had that a few times this summer, but no sign of it last night.

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2012-08-03, 10:49 AM	#137
Goldielover Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Toronto (Midtown) Posts: 244	Garth, I was picking up those tropo channels at about 9:00 - 10.00 a.m. yesterday morning. Surprised the heck out of me, as the good stuff is usually earlier than that. I lost WGRZ (which is not the steadiest channel for me) so decided to scan to see what was about, and all that stuff popped up. Was pumped all day. Just the usual stuff last night and this morning - some Rochester, Erie and Cleveland stations. STILL no WHAM or WHEC, but did pick up WICU Erie, so have now added a 7th NBC channel to my Olympics watching scoreboard. Obviously using the C2V on the balcony this summer has netted me more catches than last summer when I was using the HDTVi indoors. I had some good catches with it (WHIZ Zanesville and WGBU Bowling Green come to mind) but the C2V is a stronger antenna when used outdoors. Indoors it is fairly equivalent to the Terk.

2012-08-04, 12:43 AM	#138
va3saj Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Barrie, Ontario Posts: 45	Hi Guys: Great night for tropo up here in Barrie. I'm running an AntennasDirect91XG on top of a DMX-68 tower (about 70-75 feet up, with a MA5B Ham Radio Minibeam and HD-6055 FM antenna on a Yeasu G800DXA Rotor) going into a Tivax STB-T8. Normally I can get all the Toronto Channels reliably, and Some Buffalo ones. My complete (normal list) is here: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/show...39#post1415639 Anyway, I swung the antenna around Southwest and wow...the Erie/Cleveland channels are all rolling in, with all the subchannels too. Now we are getting: 3 WKYC Cleveland (NBC) 5 WEWS Cleveland (ABC) 20 WMYD Detroit (MyTV) 24 WJET Erie (ABC) 27 WBGU Bowling Green Ohio (PBS) 30 WGTE Toledo (PBS) 50 WQLN Erie (PBS) 61 WQHS Cleveland (Ind) 66 WFXP Erie (Fox) Spinning it SE I can get the Rochester ones too, but i get those semi-reliably (Paticularly PBS) So I won't bother putting them here. Have fun, people! VA3SAJ

2012-08-08, 09:13 PM	#139
mnx Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: hamilton, ON (L9C5S8) Posts: 14	Great night for Tropo here! ' Picking up 30.1 CKWS from Kingston, ON from Hamilton! (Unless CKWS is testing from Toronto or something...)

2012-08-08, 09:48 PM	#140
Brightonian Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 165	30.1 is a CKWS repeater in Brighton, ON. It doesn't have strong signal though... so that is a good catch.

2012-08-08, 11:20 PM	#141
Goldielover Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Toronto (Midtown) Posts: 244	Agree - VERY nice catch!! I'm jealous. As you are in Hamilton, it may actually be easier for you to get that one than it would be for someone in Toronto, as for you the signal would be mainly travelling over Lake Ontario, while for us here in Toronto it would be mainly overland. I know that can make a big difference. I routinely get channels in Syracuse and Utica, both of which are further to the east than Brighton is, but on the south side of the lake, while I almost never pick up any channels to the east which are on the north side of the lake. I am west facing, which makes the eastern channels harder still. I did once pick up a Peterborough channel, but that was during a night of very wild tropo conditions, and I was actually aiming my antenna in a completely different direction at the time, trying to see if I could pick up anything from Kitchener other than the TVO repeater on 28.1, which is a regular for me anyways. So far tonight I'm mainly picking up Erie and Rochester.

2012-08-09, 10:34 AM	#142
mnx Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: hamilton, ON (L9C5S8) Posts: 14	Nifty I saw from tvfool.com that is was about 60 miles away from Kingston. So Brighton eh? That's pretty neat! >200km! I've only got a 4bay / 2bay combo combined from Dr. Sat to get all of Toronto and buffalo without a rotor. No fancy 8 bay or anything like that... An 8bay with a rotor would be fun for nights like last night. I should point out that I'm in Ancaster, so I've got a fair amount of terrain before I get to the lake. Other than CKWS, I didn't see any new signals. 49.1 and 51.1,2,3,4 were both totally stable last night which is very rare. That's what gave me the idea to do a signal scan.

2012-08-09, 12:44 PM	#143
Goldielover Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Toronto (Midtown) Posts: 244	You don't need a big 8 bay to do some great DXing. You mainly need great conditions, and good luck in choosing the right time to scan, as conditions can change moment to moment. I've picked up Indianapolis with a Clearstream 2V on my tenth floor balcony, which is 440 miles according to TravelMath. Last year I even got Columbus with an indoor Terk HDTVi, which is 316 miles. You'd probably have fun with a rotor, though. I'm assuming you are largely facing east, and there's some pretty good stuff that comes in from the west.

2012-08-09, 09:11 PM	#145
Brightonian Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 165	No tropo tonight.... it's like Winter reception!

2012-08-09, 09:34 PM	#146
Goldielover Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Toronto (Midtown) Posts: 244	Can blame that cold front for that. According to the dxinfo forecasts, there probably won't be too much tropo for the next few days. Hopefully we will still get some more good periods before the season ends. Last year I got some of my best results in October. On the plus side - tonight WGRZ is remaining stable. Lately during periods of strong tropo I've usually ended up losing it, and then had to hunt for another NBC channel to watch the Olympics on (if CFTO didn't have anything on I wanted to watch).

2012-08-12, 11:01 PM	#147
Goldielover Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Toronto (Midtown) Posts: 244	The Olympics have ended for another four years. I have been combining Olympic viewing with some DXing. My final tally for NBC channels I have viewed the games on is seven. 02.1 WGRZ Buffalo 02.1 WKTV Utica 03.1 WKYC Cleveland 03.1 WSTM Syracuse 11.1 WPXI Pittsburgh 12.1 WICU Erie 33.1 WISE Fort Wayne There were a few I didn't get that I was hoping to, namely 4.1 WCMH Columbus, 10.1 WHEC Rochester, or 18.1 WHIZ Zanesville. I just missed out on WHIZ - it did show up during the games as reported by others, but not at a time I happened to be scanning. At least that gives me something to try for in four years time.

2012-08-26, 10:01 AM	#148
dsspredator Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: St Catharines Posts: 990	I saw CIII RF 6 for the first time last night. But I receive 13 (CTV) and 28 (TVO) almost everyday.

2012-08-28, 01:25 AM	#149
Garth J Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Markham, Ontario Posts: 114	Hot night so far! Been catching Detroit & Cleveland with a new catch! From Detroit it was my first time getting WDWO on RF18! Also saw WDIV (RF45). Getting Cleveland/Akron, OH too with WEWS (RF15), WKYC (RF17), WUAB (RF28), WBNX (RF30) and WQHS (RF34) Erie peeked in with WICU (RF12) Also getting strong Southwestern Ontario with CIII Paris (RF6), OMNI London (RF48), CFPL (RF10) and CKCO (RF13). Swing those antennas everybody

2012-08-28, 09:49 PM	#150
Goldielover Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Toronto (Midtown) Posts: 244	Nice pick up on the Detroit channels, Garth. I've never received so much as a sniff of anything from Detroit. Suspect I might be blocked by a building, as I usually have better luck with channels more to the southwest. Still, maybe some day I will get lucky and pick something up from Detroit. Something to look forward to. I mainly got the usual suspects in from Erie and Cleveland. Nothing new. I did pick up CFPL from London. I was hoping for 06.1 CIII Paris, as I've had that a few times this summer, but no sign of it last night.