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July 15, 2020 9:25 am  #1


Tell me about tropo

This morning I viewed WHAM ch. 13 and subs (RF 9) from Rochester and CIII ch. 27 from Peterborough area, but no WHEC or anything else from Rochester or CHEX from Peterborough. Shouldn’t tropo conditions bring all channels from the same area? I’m just learning about this stuff.

 

July 15, 2020 10:14 am  #2


Re: Tell me about tropo

I'm no expert on this by any means, but I think it's safe to say that just because you get one station from a specific area, doesn't mean you'll necessarily get them all. A lot depends on where the station's transmitter is, how strong they are, where your antenna is, where they are on the spectrum and what the atmosphere itself is up to at any given time. 

When they come in, it's usually not for long. You have to be in the right place at the right time or it's gone. And it can often last just a few minutes, so by the time you figure out it's WHAM and try for WHEC, it could be too late. 

The problem with digital signals is they don't travel the same way as their analogue counterparts used to. (Back then, both Rochester and Erie stations made regular appearances in Toronto. Now I rarely see any of them.) And unlike the pre-HD days, they're either there or they're not.  No looking through the snow and static to try and I.D. what you're seeing. So there are any number of reasons why you might get one but not the other.  

But don't give up! Summer is the best time for TV DXing in my experience and with the extreme heat and unsettled conditions coming back, you never know what you might pick up over the next few days. 

 

July 15, 2020 10:18 am  #3


Re: Tell me about tropo

Not sure what TV towers are where, some might be higher elevated or have more power and therefore more prone to getting signal out. These two sites should help with details:

http://www.dxinfocentre.com/propagation/tr-modes.htm
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html

 

 

July 15, 2020 10:59 am  #4


Re: Tell me about tropo

I received two Erie channels (WSEE and another one) the other night in Etobicoke around midnight.  

 

July 15, 2020 11:58 am  #5


Re: Tell me about tropo

In the digital era, when I would visit my parents in Oakville, the only Rochester station I ever received was WROC, which at the time was operating on ch 45. I believe WHEC remained on ch 10 and WHAM on 13. My parents had a Channel Master 4221 UHF antenna which meant almost zero chance of receiving the other Rochester stations. Strangely, I never received WXXI or WUHF.

 

July 15, 2020 12:48 pm  #6


Re: Tell me about tropo

I was getting WROC and WXXI from Rochester on TV this morning in Pickering and on the radio I was getting several Syracuse stations including a county station at 104.7 and two that I don't remember receiving before. Classic Rock at 105.5 and a  news/ talk station at 106.9. 


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July 15, 2020 7:20 pm  #7


Re: Tell me about tropo

WROC and WXXI hanging in and coming in quite strong and Rochester Fox on channel 28 is intermittent I would say that this summer the Rochester stations on UHF have been semi frequent but the VHF ones rare..


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July 15, 2020 8:02 pm  #8


Re: Tell me about tropo

Tropo is fairly predictable, given humidity levels, and temperature variation, particularly around the Great Lakes in summer.   William Hepburn who lives in the Niagara region, was a meteorologist at Environment Canada.  He publishes daily maps, which provide forecasts of potential tropo ducting. Back in the day, I held some of the North American DXing records for trop TV reception in the 1,000+mile range.   It wasn't unusual to see stations well into the mid-west USA, early mornings and late evenings in the summer.  However with repack that's something that is very difficult to achieve, given how crowded the band is with locals and stations out to 100 miles.  Best bets are channels 7-13 which have very little activity in this region (except for Ch. 8 Toronto).  
Here's a link to William Hepburn's site.  I think it was listed earlier in this series of posts.
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html

Last edited by tvguy (July 15, 2020 8:03 pm)

 

July 16, 2020 9:08 am  #9


Re: Tell me about tropo

tvguy wrote:

Tropo is fairly predictable, given humidity levels, and temperature variation, particularly around the Great Lakes in summer.   William Hepburn who lives in the Niagara region, was a meteorologist at Environment Canada.  He publishes daily maps, which provide forecasts of potential tropo ducting. Back in the day, I held some of the North American DXing records for trop TV reception in the 1,000+mile range.   It wasn't unusual to see stations well into the mid-west USA, early mornings and late evenings in the summer.  However with repack that's something that is very difficult to achieve, given how crowded the band is with locals and stations out to 100 miles.  Best bets are channels 7-13 which have very little activity in this region (except for Ch. 8 Toronto).  
Here's a link to William Hepburn's site.  I think it was listed earlier in this series of posts.
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html

if I had a good outdoor antenna for VHF then the channels 7-13 maybe an option for tropo reception but as it it is I have only caught the Rochester stations on VHF on rare occasion.

The UHF band has been more lucrative and I do not see many channels crowding the band above channel 45 but by the same token I have not had many good catches in that range either.

What I will say about yesterday is that the tropo seemed to be quite widespread. I received the  Syracuse stations on the radio but also caught a Cambridge station at 91.5 ( The Beat ?) and also CHYM FM at 96.7. That used to be a more regular catch for me way back before other stations were added to that frequency. In fact I think I remember hearing the future Daddy Cool ( Dave Booth) playing power poppers Blue Ash on the station in 1973.

 

Last edited by Fitz (July 16, 2020 9:10 am)


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