Fun with Tropospheric Ducting - Post Your Highest Mileages

[SRW1000]

One of the things I've found to be amazing is how atmospheric conditions can contribute to the success (or failure) of digital reception.

We've all experienced analog and radio signals from far away places, but the result was usually a snowy or otherwise poor picture and crummy sound.  With digital TV, you either get a perfect broadcast, intermittent reception, or nothing.  The result is that you might be able to get perfect-quality broadcast from a city remarkably far away.

I thought it might be fun for people to post the furthest watchable DTV signal that they've ever received.  Now, with higher-power stations becoming the norm, we should see some interesting results.

I'll go first.  On 7/2/05, I was receiving WYIN-DT near Gary, IN - a remarkable 154 miles away.

The rules are simple, the signal has to be watchable for at least a couple of minutes.  Mileages can be taken from the results found on http://www.2150.com/broadcast.  (Those of you with 120'+ antennas are welcome to post, but please mention that fact, so as not to depress those of us with regular old antennas.)  Listing the equipment you're using is optional, but it would be interesting to compare notes.  

This is just an exhibition, not a competition.  Please no wagering.

I'm using a Channel Master 4228 (for UHF) coupled with an old Radio Shack antenna (for VHF), both of which are mounted in the rafters of my garage.  For amplification, I've got a Channel Master Titan 2 model 7777.  My set top box is a Sylvania SRZ300 (soon to be replaced or accompanied by a Voom receiver I bought off of eBay).

Please post your own records.

Scott

[Todd Wiedemann]

Excellent idea, Scott.

I'll sticky this.

Thanks for the contribution.

[pretzelkid]

The skip on the evening of 6/24 was strong. I was watching Conan on WMVT 15 (rf19 Madison) when it suddenly disappeared and in it's place pops up WXMI 17 out of Grand Rapids MI. about 155 miles away with about a 60 on the signal meter and this is with the back of my combo antenna pointed at Grand Rapids. When I rotored over to Grand Rapids I picked up WOOD-DT 8,(rf 7), and WOTX-DT 41(rf 20) as well as WXMI-DT 17 (rf19) all with 80's to 90 signal. It all lasted about 10 minutes and disappeared just as quick as it appeared. It was a hectic 10 minutes...rush to the computer...figure out were WXMI was from...get a compass heading...rotor over....scope the other channels...kinda fun....
BTW I used http://www.indo.com/distance/  to figure out the distance and compass heading and http://www.tvradioworld.com/region1/usa/usastates.asp
to get a station listing. I have a 55 ft rohn tower with a Winegard 7084 combo antenna and winegard AP-8700 pre-amp and channelmaster rotor.
 

[Bent_MG]

Around a year ago I was able to pick up WEAU-DT from Eau Claire, WI, a distance of 183.22 miles from my house in Elkhorn, WI. I have a Radio Shack VU-190 antenna mounted on the roof, and a Samsung T-151 receiver. I've also been able to pick up the South Bend digital channels on occasion (WNDU and WSBT). If you want us to include analog channels, I once was able to get WUAB, channel 43 from Cleveland, OH (361.66 miles) fairly clear with the same antenna.

[TAS]

On the 4th of July I have been receiving new channels.  Antenna in fixed position south.

FOX (31 DTV) WFLD Chi. - 40 % on signal meter (no Dropouts for 2 hours now)

NBC (29 DTV) WMAQ Chi. - 40 % on signal meter (no Dropouts for 2 hours now)

ABC (52 DTV) WLS Chi. - 20 % on signal meter (bad)

WB (19 DTV) WGN Chi. - 30 % on signal meter (okay)

UNI (53 DTV) WGBO Chi. - 24% on signal meter (good)

UPN (51 DTV) WPWR Chi. - 40 % on signal meter (no Dropouts for 2 hours now)

And most UHF channels that don't interfere (okay)     .....     100 miles

NBC (16 NTSC) WNDU South Bend - fuzzy (interference) (comes in most days even when watching Madison)  155 miles

I get all Madison channels great except FOX 47 (11 DTV), and NBC 15 (19 DTV) comes in but has interference a lot.  70 miles

Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo comes in on most days better than Chicago.  Storms on the lake today.  But FOX 17 (19 DTV), ABC WZZM (39 DTV),  ABC WOTV (DTV 20) are good day-to-day. (WZZM 13 analog comes in off the back sometime when pointing at Madison.  152 miles

Green Bay is the worst of all the cities (higher elevations east of Winnebago),  I have received ABC (23 DTV), NBC (41 DTV), FOX (51 DTV), CBS (56 DTV), UPN (59 DTV) but only when ducting is very high. 92 miles

17 WTVO ABC (NTSC analog) from Rockford is very fuzzy (interference) 82 miles

09 WWTV analog from Cadillac, MI (little fuzzy) 163 miles

(I get all of Milwaukee) 15.5 miles

That's about all the stations my antenna can get me.  Let me know if anyone can get other stable Digital Stations, or nice analog ones.  Very Nice Thread!!!

[Gilbert]

First, my set up:

1 story townhouse, DeKalb, IL. 61 miles west of Sears Tower.
Low in the Kishwaukee River valley.
Antennas in the attic.

This doesn't look good. But, the equipment:

ChannelMaster 4228 8-bay UHF, on a CM rotor
Winegard VHF-only non-rotating antenna, pointing at Chicago
(it's monstrous, bigger than any other I've seen). Both these
antennas are diplexed, using quad-shielded RG-6 cable to:

ChannelMaster 7777 preamplifier

Zenith DVR-420 tuner on a lousy 26" regular TV using 480i output

So, with that, I have gotten:

KLBJ-DT (Quad Cities): 95 miles (PSIP only---I have a large ridge to my
west which blocks everything from the Quad Cities 99.9999% of the time)

WSJV-DT at somewhere around 30 kw (131 miles)
WSBT-DT,WNDU-DT (130 miles), all from South Bend/Elkhart, IN

WRTV-DT (Indianapolis), 195 miles (no images due to analog
co-channel causing interference)

Best analog tropo: A PBS station on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
That was 400 miles, can't remember the calls.

Best E-skip (tie): Channel 2 from Bangor Maine, and Orlando, FL,
Which I think are a thousand miles away! :rock:

[TAS]

417 miles (670 km) (362 nautical miles)

Tonight i am watching a channel for the South Dakota/Nebraska/Iowa market!!! :eek:

CBS 14
KMEG TV
100 Gold Circle
Dakota Dunes, SD 57049


The tower in in Hinton, Iowa, US i am in Germantown, Wisconsin, US

Picture has interfarence at times, but has been watchable all night.

[Milwaukee12]

Has anyone been able to receive stations using rabbit ears?  The best I have gotten is western Michigan stations.

[TAS]

Yes, I also got western Michigan with Bow-ties & Rabbit Ears - Digital and Analog

I was close the receiving WBUB-DT (DTV=32) and 15 NBC Madison came in.

[foxeng]

If you are interested in TV DXing, analog and digital, check out http://www.dxfm.com and http://www.mcsittel.com/html/dx.html for some interesting sites.

[John L]

If you are interested in TV DXing, analog and digital, check out http://www.dxfm.com and http://www.mcsittel.com/html/dx.html for some interesting sites.

I am a member of a club that this type of activity has become a hobby for some people.  Therefore people have gone out there way to spend $$$ on larger antennas, possible amps, traps, etc.  to take advantage of mother natures fun fill advantage of receiving distant stations.

The  World TV & FM DX Association and gives you up to date news in TV and FM radio, channel changes, network changes, including changes of power, antenna height, new stations, CPs for new stations, etc.  

I myself a member and I will tell you last Sunday evening my FM receiver here in my Muskego, Wisconsin home was receiving various FM stations from Texas all across the FM band.  It was due to E-skip which happens once in a while mostly during the summer.  One guy in Michigan was watching WEAR-TV, ch. 3 from Florida someplace.  I too was receiving the Florida ABC station on my TV.

The furthest DTV signals I believe I got is a couple DTVs in Toledo, Ohio.

-John L.

[foxeng]

E Skip hasn't been too good here this year. We have the Appalachian Mountains about 200 miles west and it blocks a lot of E skip from the west and it looks like most has been west to east so far this year. We have had some nice north/south tropo (typical for us because of the Atlantic Ocean about 300 miles to the east) but nothing to really write home about.

This is my antenna setup, a CM 4228 and a Delhi / Jerrold VIP 307SR VHF only.

[kwinrich]

A couple of sites for TV DXing....

http://www.oldtvguides.com/DXPhotos/ with pictures of stations received over 800 miles away.

Tropospheric ducting predictions:  http://home.cogeco.ca/~dxinfo/tropo.html

Annnnnd, a guy who he has received TV from Austrialia and Europe via the F2 layer (which is VERY Possible!) in Illinois.... and has the QSLs to prove it.
http://www.oldtvguides.com/analog/

[John L]

Annnnnd, a guy who he has received TV from Austrialia and Europe via the F2 layer (which is VERY Possible!) in Illinois.... and has the QSLs to prove it.
http://www.oldtvguides.com/analog/

Ahh Yes, I know Jeff.  When WITI-DT was transmitting at very low power from their Brown Deer studio site,  one night he received Fox 6's DT signal in Macomb, IL. This  was early last year before they move the transmitter and antenna on the Effiel Tower in Estabrook Park.

-John L.

[tlarsen76]

I like this discussion thread!  Thanks to my new setup of an 8-bay Channel Master 4228 UHF only antenna with a CM 7777 pre-amp and Samsung SIR-T151 tuner, I was able to get all of Detroit's DTV stations (analog-digital: 50-14, 20-21, 7-41, 56-43, 62-44, 4-45, and 2-58 ) and one from Saginaw, MI (25-30) and one from Lansing, MI (10-57).  This was at 9AM Central Wednesday, August 17.  I found them by accident as I was turning the rotor while tuned in on digital 21 from NorthEast to South looking for Chicago's PBS.  I never would have looked for those stations on purpose.  The fun only lasted for about 20 minutes until it went black.  Detroit is 252 miles from Sheboygan.  I tried to get some Ontario DTV channels but had no luck.

I have no problems with Green Bay and Milwaukee.  Grand Rapids (13-39 and 17-19) and Battle Creek (41-20) are pretty common from my location.  Madison, WI, Traverse City, MI, Chicago, IL, and Gary,IN have been coming in occasionally.  If the conditions are right, South Bend,IN shows up.

tlarsen76