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

[Phil81]

Reviving this thread with a couple of new ones this morning here as Pittsburgh was the strongest it has ever been yet.

WPCW-DT 19-1 CW (RF11) Jeannette/Pittsburgh - 174.5mi-280.83km

WQED-DT 13-1 PBS (RF13) Pittsburgh - 178.84mi-287.81km
13-2 Create
13-3 Local/Neighborhood Channel

Too bad WTAE 51 couldn't quite make it, but it was extremely close.

Others seen: KDKA 25,WHIZ 40,WFMJ 21,WPXI 48,WINP 38,CKXT 19

[mikewindsor]

Recieved WGRZ 2.1 from Buffalo here in Windsor last night.
Watched for about 45 mins very strong 87 on signal meter.

cheers

120 degrees on the rotor

[Phil81]

Started off with some Ft Wayne stations RF24,RF31,RF40 around 11-12am with nothing really interesting, but a few hrs later some new really good stuff from the Cedar Rapids, Iowa TV market arrived. Came VERY close to breaking my previous UHF DX record distance here.

KWKB-DT 20-1 CW (RF25) Cedar Rapids - 450.08 mi or 724.33 km
KWKB-DT 20-2 AntennaTV/Mytv

KPXR-DT 48-1 ION (RF47) Iowa City - 474.61 mi or 763.81 km
...along with the other two ION subs

KGAN-DT 2-1 CBS (RF51) Cedar Rapids - 473.4 mi or 761.86 km
KGAN-DT 2-2 CoolTV

And shortly before 5am
WHBF-DT 4-1 CBS (RF04) Rock Island, IL (Davenport, IA market) - 406.67 mi or 654.47 km
WHBF-DT 4-2 RTV4

WHBF was the last hold out on VHF-lo digital DX. I have now gotten DTV on every VHF-lo channel 2-6.

WRBU 47 from East St Louis, IL still stands barely as the longest UHF DX here at 487.11 mi on Nov 9, 2009.
Longest VHF digital DX still stands as KOTA 2 at 1046.5mi/1684.18km.


Will post pictures of these new channels in the next couple days.

[someguy23475]

I just had my antenna raised 20 feet to about 40 feet above ground, and I'm not sure if it is conditions or not, but I am picking up a few Cleveland DTVs, namely WKYC, WEWS, WEAO, WVPX, and WDLI. WDLI is the worst, because it pretty much wipes out WNWO, even though WNWO is only about 45 miles away and WDLI is about 100.

As a consequence, I can't pick up CHWI 26 or W33BY at the moment.

[Phil81]

Even more all new decodes from 7-9 am today.

KSDK-DT 5-1 NBC (RF35) St Louis, MO - ~477 mi
KPLR-DT 11-1 CW (RF26) St Louis, MO - ~473 mi
WEEK-DT 25-1 NBC (RF25) Peoria, IL - ~373 mi
WCIS-DT 20-1 ABC (RF42) Springfield, IL - ~390 mi
WCIA-DT 3-1 CBS (RF48) Champaign, IL - ~333 mi

What a morning.

I was read that people are still picking up Cleveland in the Detroit area even in the middle of the aft. KWKB was still around in bits and pieces at noon today here.

[someguy23475]

Cleveland finally dropped off around 3PM for me. Amazing.

[Phil81]

Here's all the good stuff from Aug 2nd tropo event.

Came within 13 miles of the previous UHF tropo distance record here.
Distances are exact from my house to the base of the stations tower.

KWBK-DT 20-1 CW (RF25) Iowa City, IA - 450.08 mi or 724.33 km [link]
KWKB-DT 20-2 AntennaTV/Mytv [link]

KPXR-DT 48-1 ION (RF47) Iowa City - 474.61 mi or 763.81 km [link]
'no pic of qubo or IONLife'

KGAN-DT 2-1 CBS (RF51) Cedar Rapids - 473.4 mi or 761.86 km [link]
KGAN-DT 2-2 CoolTV [link]

WHBF-DT 4-1 CBS (RF04) Rock Island, IL (Davenport market) - 406.67 mi or 654.47 km [link]
WHBF-DT 4-2 RTV4 (Channel was coming in real good after 8am when this pic was taken) [link]

WEEK-DT 25-1 NBC (RF25) Peoria, IL - 373.62 mi or 601.28 km [link]
WEEK-WX 25-2 [link]

KSDK-DT 5-1 NBC (RF35) St. Louis, MO - 474.04 mi or 762.89 km [link]
KSDK-WX 5-2 [link]

WICS-DT 20-1 ABC (RF42) Springfield, IL - 390.88 mi or 629.06 km [link]
WICS-D1 20-1 Country Network [link]

WCIA-DT CBS (RF48) Champaign, IL - 333.57 mi or 536.83 km [link]
WCIA-D1 MY49 (WCFN) [link]

KPLR-DT 11-1 CW (RF26) St. Louis, MO - 473.51mi or 762.04 km [link]
KPLR-D1 11-2 "this St. Louis" [link]

[PanaMark]

very nice Phil, I just got back from a weeks vacation to the East coast. I made a point of "No Electronics" for the duration but the family could not live without their i-phones. I did have withdraw but am glad to see that you kept the DX spirit alive.

[PanaMark]

I have woke up to some Toledo channels visiting this morning,
channel 13-1 WTVG-HD RF13, and it's sub channels
channel 27-1 WBGU RF27, and it's sub channels
channel 30-1 WGTE RF29, and it's sub channels
these are not new channels that I have received but channel 13 does not come in all that often.
The Cleveland's have been very strong lately and last night channel 12 WMFD RF12 from Mansfield was coming in also.
It has been a great summer regarding American OTA channels visiting London. I have found long lasting reception during these past two months.

[sumguy99]

After not doing any OTA stuff for the past year or so, I did some messing around last night and was amazed at what I got.

So here's the list:

2-1 WGRZ (NBC) Buffalo
4-1 WIBV (CBS)
5-1 WEWS (ABC)
7-1 WKBW (ABC)
17-1 WNED (PBS)
23-1 WNLO
24-1 WJET
26-1/2/3 WNYB (TCT)
27-1/2 WKBN (CBS) / WYFX (Fox)
33-1/2/3 WYTV (ABC) / My TV / My Valley Weather
45-1/2/3/4 WNEO PBS
49-1/2 WYNO / Cool TV
51-1/2 WGGN
54-1 WQLN (PBS)
66-1 WFXP

In addition to those, I seemed to be getting a blank carrier on 43-8, 43-9 and 50-4. Anyone know anything about those?

I would have thought I'd be able to pick up some Detroit channels with reception like this - anyone know why I didn't?

Didn't really pay too much attention to the analog channels I was getting, but I was picking up channel 9 (A Channel / CTV?) which I wasn't familiar with - where it that transmitter located?

I'm in Westmount (east side of Wonderland road, south of Berkshire) and most of those digital channels came in when the antenna was pointed practically at the CFPL transmitter tower.

I have some off-brand Yagi with triple boom (boom length 3 ft). It's sitting only about 2 feet higher than my chimney (so it's maybe 15 feet off the ground) but it has a clear southern and eastern view. About 25 feet of high quality quad-shield RG6 running directly to antenna input of 26" Samsung TV. No antenna amplifier.

As of 8:30 am today, I don't think I was getting any of those channels.

[PanaMark]

In addition to those, I seemed to be getting a blank carrier on 43-8,

43-9 and 50-4. Anyone know anything about those?

43-8 and 43-9 are part of channel WNED 17-1 RF43 PBS Buffalo
50-4 is part of 54-1 WQLN RF50 PBS Erie
without getting into detail they are channels that provide updates and such if your receiver can accept them, otherwise useless channels.

Didn't really pay too much attention to the analog channels I was getting, but I was picking up channel 9 (A Channel / CTV?) which I wasn't familiar with - where it that transmitter located?

this is analog channel 9 CTV Toronto, I believe from CN Tower. You had you antenna pointed towards Buffalo for a bit and that is when you would have received this.

[Phil81]

Picked up stuff from Toronto and even Peterborough here. (CHEX-TV 12 at 430 kms, CIII-TV 27 at 427 kms). CHEX was new.

Seen here:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/pict...pictureid=4327
..and CIII Toronto during the news.
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/pict...pictureid=4326

Even saw Sun TV RF66 and partially OMNI1 on RF64. Other than that, conditions were variable and stations came and went ranging from central and west MI to central OH and NE Indiana and Erie, PA.

[sumguy99]

So I raised my yagi about 10 feet higher and picked up a few new stations tonight, but some others that I got last night I'm not getting tonight. Very overcast and low clouds tonight. It even rained very lightly.

So here's what I didn't get:

2-1 WGRZ Buffalo
17-1 WNED Buffalo
23-1 WNLO Buffalo
27-1/2 WKBN / WYFX Youngstown Ohio
45-1/2/3/4 WNEO Salem Ohio (near Youngstown)
49-1/2 WNYO (Buffalo)
51-1/2 WGGN New London Ohio (middle of nowhere)

And here's the new stations:

3-1/2 WKYC Cleveland (antenna pointing 195 <-> 225 degrees)
4-1/2 WDIV Detroit (255)
7-1/2 WXYZ Detroit (240)
28-1/2/3 WCMZ (PBS) Grand Blank Michigan (!) (75 degrees?)
61-1 WQHS Cleveland (195 <-> 210)

So it was kinda neat to get the two Detroit stations. But their reception was touchy. The PBS in Grand Blank (near flint) is strange - my antenna was pointed pretty much 180 degrees away from it.

The blank carrier on 50-4 comes in at 120 degrees (that would put it in Erie PA, or a little further up the coast into NY state)

The big winner seems to be 66-1 WFXP. I get that no matter where I point my antenna from 105 to 210 degrees. It's located in Erie, which is 130 degrees from me.

Question: Does Port Huron have no stations (that can be picked up in London on a good night) ?

Question: Are there any Canadian digital channels (other than the stupid Sun channel 19.1) that can be picked up in London? Say, from anywhere in the golden horseshoe / Toronto?

[cm023]

Question: Does Port Huron have no stations (that can be picked up in London on a good night) ?

Port Huron is considered part of the Detroit market. I remember reading somewhere they did have a allocation for a TV station years ago, but once they were swallowed into the Detroit market it was pointless. I have also heard that Detroit stations are not easy to receive reliably full time in Port Huron, this making this a harder OTA market.

Question: Are there any Canadian digital channels (other than the stupid Sun channel 19.1) that can be picked up in London? Say, from anywhere in the golden horseshoe / Toronto?

Now, not reliably.. maybe some with Tropo. After Aug 31st all our stations will convert to digital.. unless you are a fan of the CBC then see the lengthy thread on the CBC not investing in Digital OTA for London.

[someguy23475]

Port Huron was allotted 46 many years ago but it was never built, and eventually it was moved to Bay City (to replace 61). The only reliable signals in that area are from Sarnia, and CFPL. Detroit is hit or miss, especially with digital. Flint is practically non existent.