OTA: Southwest Ontario, MI, Lake Erie area DXing, Tropo, Odd Reception: 2011

[Phil81]

I see there has been some good distant reception reports in London area today even with all the heavy snow.

Not sure if some reported geomagnetic activity the last 24-36 hrs is causing a strange observation i am seeing on some tropo only (basically like 3Edge) channels 90 miles southeast. They have been appearing and disappearing violently. Crazy signal variation from almost no signal to 100% / or all bars then down and up and down and everywhere in between. One of these channels shares ch49 with Toledo's 24-1 WNWO, so 24-1 has been taking a beating back and forth when the 90 mile co-channel flares up and down erratically.

[Bark64]

Last night I was able to watch Wheel, Jeopardy, No Ordinary Family and V on WEWS Cleveland in HD. Signal strength was moderate (30-50) but surprisingly stable. Only the occasional dropout and even then it came back right away. I'm really looking forward to the tropo and the August digital conversion. It should be a good year for free TV.

[Phil81]

Channels from Detroit plus west and north are enhanced a decent amount tonight. Watching WILX News at 11 on RF10 steadily (Lansing) from 103 miles away right now. There are a couple other ones from the same general area/direction that are coming and going to.

[DigitalRocks]

Yeah Phil I noticed as well last night, I was picking up a ton of different markets. I scanned straight west for me and saw WILX and WLNS. I then scanned northwest and picked up:
WNEM (very rare with global on 22)
WJRT (RF12)
WSMH (RF16)
WEYI (RF30)

Those channels are more rare I find... I was also picking up the usuals from Cleveland.

[PanaMark]

Here is what I am receiving this evening.
2-1 KDKA RF25 Pittsburgh
11-1 WPXI RF 48 Pittsburgh
27-1 WKBN RF 41 Youngstown
33-1 WYTV RF 36 Youngstown

this is with the rotor at 160 degrees. Reception is on and off

the Erie three are strong, and I am having solid reception of 12-1 WICU RF12

I received my Kitz Tech model 200 distro amp yesterday. I haven't really noticed the difference over the 100 series model.

One thing I do know is that reception has been better since I changed from a mast mounted preamp. Can anyone say "Overload"?

[USA CBC fan]

(Regarding recent auroral events):

This aurora is in the history books now, but we may get another one in a few weeks.

After what seemed like forever without any sunspots and beginning to think they would never return (the eternal mindshine of the spotless sun?), things finally picked up - if only a few days.

One note about aurora and its effect on long distance reception on VHF and UHF:

Aurora has great effects on the ionosphere (the near-space sky about 50km to 300km high), but none on the troposphere (the air we breathe, and the clouds and rain within it).

Simply put, aurora will not help one in Ontario get UHF signals from Cleveland, Detroit or Buffalo at all.

Aurora does have other effects on the VHF spectrum that my bring interesting DX. In itself, it scatters VHF radio waves (but garbles them in the process). It works pretty well for CW (Morse code) operation on the 6-meter amateur band, and, with a little luck, allows FM broadcast DXers to hear distant FM stations if they can find a locally clear channel.

Aurora can also induce off-season sporadic-E skip, so, of you want to see analog TV signals from Warmley, Rimouski, Halifax or several other Canadian low band VHF TV stations before they sign off for good, give the low band channels (especially channels 2, 3 and 4) a try whenever aurora is happening.

[PanaMark]

Fantastic reception of Cleveland tonight. I have been able to pull in:

3-1 WKYC-HD RF17 NBC
5-1 WEWS-HD RF15 ABC
8-1 WJWDT-1 RF8 FOX
17-1 WDLI-D1 RF49 TBN
23-1 WPXI RF23 ION
25-1 WVIZ RF26 PBS
43-1 WUAB RF28 MYN
52-1 WGGN RF42 IND
55-1 WBNX-HD RF30 CW
61-1 WQHS-DT RF UNI

Today I received a notch trap filter for channel 10 CFPL that I ordered from Tin Lee. This is an additional trap to an exsisting one. I installed it this afternoon and it appears to be paying off.
My current setup now runs
Antennas Direct XG91 UHF
Fracarro Radioindustrie BLV6F VHF-HI
Tin Lee channel 10/FM traps,
and Kitz Tech KT-200 antenna booster, standard version
This setup feeds three televisions.

The new VHF antenna I recently purchased is pretty good. Honestly when I was putting it together and comparing it to my previous Delhi VIP 302SR, I was skeptical but it does out perform the Delhi.

In over the last two years I have grown from a basic rabbit ears antenna setup to what I currently have. The growing pains were worth every minute of it. Special thanks to everyone here at the forum for the tips, suggestions, and sharing their experiences.

[Phil81]

Anyone who gets WJW tonight up there in should check out Antenna TV on 8-2.

It's a very unusual screwy signal night on the north shore of Lake Erie here as well.

[PanaMark]

Phil,
that's mostly what I have been watching tonight.
WJW 8-2 has had some shows airing tonight that I hadn't seen in quite a while, like Sanford and Son, Good Times, and Married with Children.

I have never had signal strength as high as this evening regarding reception on Cleveland's WJW RF8, or Erie's WICU channel 12.

The meter on my Dxing Centronic's receiver was reading 100% strength and 56% quality. Unheard of till this evening.

I know that tropo is strong tonight,
however I can't help but wonder if my recent upgrade in VHF antenna and added attenuation of local channel 10 has tamed the AGC enough, to allow more stable reception of fringe signals.

Like Russel Oliver says in those weird commercial's "Oh ya".

Phil, just a tip on the Centronics receiver. I keep the format set at 720p, and change the one setting to "Letter". When an original filmed 480i SD is on a sub channel it doesn't stretch the 4:3 picture to 16:9. On HD channel's the picture is always "Full" regardless.

[Phil81]

Best tropo since last Nov.
Some of the not so ordinary tropo stations showed up here tonight. A short list by rf channel

WLMB 5 Ind/Rel
WMFD 12 Ind -brief
WINM 12 TCT
WISE 18 NBC -brief
CKXT 19 SUN
WOTV 20 ABC
WJET 24 ABC
WFFT 36 FOX
WSYM 38 FOX
WFWA 40 PBS -nice new little logo in the corner.
WGGN 42 Ind/Rel (very strong wow)
WRLM 47 TCT

WFFT,WISE were the furthest at 150 miles.

Also noticed that WLNS has added TCN country network on 6-2. Wasn't there last week when it popped in for a bit.
And a big finger in the eye of that new CHWI TV26 repeater station in Windsor too lol. WVIZ Cleveland crushed it tonight like never before. Ha ha.

[PanaMark]

tropo has come and tropo has gone.
I woke up most of the Cleveland stations gone. I believe only WEWS was left standing. Turned the rotor towards Erie and the Erie Three were there.
Channel 12 WICU was in and out, mostly pixelation.

It was nice to see such a strong session of tropo. Regardless I am still happy with my latest results. Still climbing that big hill I guess.

[mkenney]

In Riverside , picking up Cleveland 3 and 5, Erie WJET and WLNS Lansing

[PanaMark]

get those rotors moving. I am experiencing tropo from these markets this morning:
Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland

Boy sure am glad the weather is getting better.

[goforit]

Mark, I noticed you got the Kitz 200, how does it compare to the 100?

[PanaMark]

Mark, I noticed you got the Kitz 200, how does it compare to the 100?

They are pretty much the same. Well let's say I can't really see the difference.