Mace - maybe MN Public radio on 91.7; had them in north Kawartha. Had Religion 90.9 ID and it was Windom MN. Of course there are other possibilities for you, I'm going on my logs. Regional tropo also strong, so those catches unsurprising.
Eskip has been unbelievable this year. Nfld DXer had FM from Spain, Portugal. Ireland DXer had Greenland and eastern Canada, a few weeks ago. Cape Cod DXer just had Iceland a few days ago. Grimsby ON Dxer had Azores. Yesterday London ON DXer had at least 7 FMs from Puerto Rico, at about 1800 miles. Same time I had one from Diominican Republic, same distance. I've never had Caribbean until yesterday. This evening's fun ended in remote Manitoba - Peguis First nation, The Pas, Norway House ... some very low power stations, like 50-200 watts... And the band wat times was so crowded I would turn a portable or car radio onto 105.9 and 101.1 and get RDS readout from South Dakota, not Orillia or Barrie, which are powerhouses an hour's drive away and almost always solid on the channel.

 

Saul- I am assuming the FM dial is a little more open in the Kawarthas than here in Toronto. When I was living in Oakville many decades ago, I had access to an outdoor Wineguard FM antenna. Granted the dial was much more open then, but I sure got some great skip mostly in the lower end. For some reason, 93.3 always had good stuff. Back then 92.5 was open. I would use that frequency for a tropo test. If WBEE was in stereo, it was going to be a good dx day!

E-skip Skip would only be on low band TV RF 2-6 and FM.   Anything on high-band (ch 7 - 13 RF) and UHF is tropospheric related.   E-skip refers to the "E" layer of the ionosphere - which is a wholly different phenomenon than "tropo" reception.   With the exception of a small handful of TV stations in Pa, NY, and Ontario, virtually all TV stations are on UHF.   The exceptions are Ch. 8 Toronto- CFTO,  Ch. 12 Erie - WICU, WBBZ Ch. 7 Buffalo (fairly low powered), and I believe WHEC and WHAM Rochester - on Ch. 9 and 10 Sporadic E or Es is an unusual form of radio propagation using characteristics of the Earth's ionosphere. Whereas most forms of skywave propagation use the normal and cyclic ionization properties of the ionosphere's F region to refract (or "bend") radio signals back toward the Earth's surface, sporadic E propagation bounces signals off smaller "clouds" of unusually ionized atmospheric gas in the lower E region (located at altitudes of approx. 90 to 160 km). This occasionally allows for long-distance communication at VHF frequencies not usually well-suited to such communication.[1]Communication distances of 800–2200 km can occur using a single Es cloud. This variability in distance depends on a number of factors, including cloud height and density. MUF also varies widely, but most commonly falls in the 25 – 150 MHz range, which includes the FM broadcast band (87.5–108 MHz), Band I VHF television (American channels 2-6, Russian channels 1-3, and European channels 2-4, the latter no longer used in Western Europe), CB radio (27 MHz) and the amateur radio 2-meter, 4-meter, 6-meter, and 10-meter bands. Strong events have allowed propagation at frequencies as high as 250 MHz.[citation needed]As its name suggests, sporadic E is an abnormal event, but can happen at almost any time; it does, however, display seasonal patterns. Sporadic E activity peaks predictably in the summertime in both hemispheres. In North America, the peak is most noticeable in mid-to-late June, trailing off through late July and into early August. A much smaller peak is seen around the winter solstice. Activity usually begins in mid-December in the southern hemisphere, with the days immediately after Christmas being the most active period.[citation needed]On June 12, 2009, sporadic E allowed some television viewers in the eastern United States to see VHF analog TV stations from other states at great distances, in places and on TV channels where local stations had already done their permanent analog shutdown on the final day of the DTV transition in the United States. This was possible because VHF has been mostly avoided by digital TV stations, leaving the analog stations the last ones on the band. As of April, 2010, it was possible for many Americans to see Canadian and Mexican analog in this manner when sporadic-E occurs, until those countries do their own analog shutdowns over the following few years. In some cases it is even possible to get DTV Es receptions from well over 1000 miles (1600 km), since some US stations still use Band 1 even for DTV; these signals are characterized for being either extremely clear or extremely blocky. They are also much easier to identify.[citation needed]

WTHS Miami Fl was received via E-skip on low-band VHF (anlogue) Ch. 2 "over" WGR in the 1960's at my home in North York

Last edited by tvguy (July 15, 2021 2:42 pm)

I used to get WTHS all the time when conditions were right. I believe they're now called WPBS. You can say one thing for the analog days - the range of stations you could get when everything aligned was almost limitless. Now, with digital, I'm lucky to pull in Erie or Rochester. Kinda miss those days. 

Indeed, E-skip is a 2-6 low-VHF phenomenon. And in this case the rescan described above was due to lots of strong cross-lake and regional tropo. BUT, in very rare instances E-skip can climb above FM, into the 162 MHz weather band, and into channels 7-13. When the TV band was analog and more people were DXing TV, and DX was easier (than DTV), there were occasional reports of skip climbing up to 13. But, like, maybe once or twice, maybe three times a year, somewhere or other in North America. I was lucky to have this twice in 40years DXing TV. Once had 8 from Alabama, another time had 7 from Mississippi. About a week ago, a DXer in the eastern US noted a signal on DTV 7 or 8, but it didn't lock in solidly enough for an ID. That, to my best knowledge would have been a DTV first in North America.

That said it's been one of the most awesome Es seasons I can recall. A Dxer in Nfld has had doubnle-hop Es on FM to Spain and Portugal; that same day an Irish DXer logged Greenland and Quebec. A DXer in Niagara logged the Azores on FM a week ago. That same DXer, and another in Niagara logged Puerto Rico, again at double-hop distances. In that opening a London ON DXer logged at least seven FMs from Puerto Rico. And in that opening I had Dominican Republic on 90.9, my first ever catch from the Caribbean. There have been several openings in the last few days where the band was jammed right up. I'm between Peterborough and Orillia and Barrie, and my RDS readout in the car was X-ROCK on 101.1 (South Dakota) and I also knocked out every single Barrie and Orillia station, as well as Lindsay. Also cool were loggings of 100-ish watt stations from middle-north Manitoba - Norway House, Flin Flon, The Pas, and such in two separate openings. These are as far north as I've ever heard on FM.

markow202 wrote:

In the analog days, CFTO Ch 9 came in almost clear every night up in Muskoka but no other Toronto station, when at the cottage. Rochester aswell. 

Back in 2007 north of Bala I got both CBLT on 5 and CFTO on 9, at about 9:00am.

Only time I got either of those there. Otherwise I was lucky to get CKVR clearly on 3, it was a bad area for reception.

Last edited by MJ Vancouver (July 16, 2021 12:17 am)

markow202 wrote:

MJ Vancouver wrote:

markow202 wrote:

In the analog days, CFTO Ch 9 came in almost clear every night up in Muskoka but no other Toronto station, when at the cottage. Rochester aswell. 

Back in 2007 north of Bala I got both CBLT on 5 and CFTO on 9, at about 9:00am.

Only time I got either of those there. Otherwise I was lucky to get CKVR clearly on 3, it was a bad area for reception.

And for sure you received Global on Ch7 from their massive tower nearby!

Oh yes, that was the clearest VHF. Also got CBLT on ch. 8 and CKCO (later CKNY) on ch. 11 from Huntsville but they were never really clear. The other clear station was CFTO-21, and later CHCH-67 (incidentally I was up there the day that transmitter was turned on, it was nice to get The Price is Right at the cottage).

Last edited by MJ Vancouver (July 20, 2021 12:17 am)