DTV outage

[ReesR]

The last two nights (9/4 & 9/5) were a bit interesting.  All of the Chicago stations suddenly were not available for viewing.  No matter which antenna I used.  I also could not receive Channel 58 all night.

Tonight I received an email from a ham radio friend of mine stating just how good conditions were on the vhf 2 meter band.  Well, suddenly everything made sense.  People had been talking with stations on the 2 mtr ham band out to New York and elsewhere. So at least vhf was good and possibly uhf.

I am thinking that if we have really good tropospheric conditions then digital tvreception will suddenly take a dive.

Has anyone else noticed this?

I am now beginning to receive Chicago stations again but still do not have any signal from Ch58.  Interesting.



------------------
Rees Roberts
Racine, WI
reesr@wi.net

HDTV Receiver:  Sony KD-34XBR2
Bi-directional Yagi Antenna at 30 feet

[Tom Snyder]

I also experienced intermittent drops in local TV signal strength last night. The strange thing about it was that I was getting UPN 50D, WTTW 11D and WSNS 44D, at signal strengths higher than 58 and WMVS D.

I just checked and saw that the Tropospheric ducting was particulalry strong in our area last night...  http://www.globalserve.net/~hepburnw/tropo.html

[ReesR]

Fantastic!  Good observation.

So, it looks like this will be a factor in future reception issues again until power levels are at high normal levels.

Anyone else notice?

[JohnRacine]

Channel 58 digital is all but gone on the south side here in Racine.  I haven't been able to get a signal lock for about a week now.  4-1, 10-1 and 11-1 from Chicago are still very strong.  No more 1-1 anymore tho...bummer.

[Kevin Arnold]

This is a direct problem related to low power. If this happens in summer on a consistant basis it can spike the progress of HD in MKE cold. The average guy will not understand ducting and think he's got a bad unit. I wish broadcasters would stop treating this as experimental and get down to business providing a reliable signal.