The big CIII-TV-2 signal, one of Global's "original six", from well east of Bancroft, at a dot on the map called Vennachar, not far from Denbigh and the Bon Echo area. A snowmobiler checked out the site this past winter and posted this video:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9_agEZieZdg

Just down the road, on Hwy 41 at the south edge of Bon Echo Provincial Park, is TVO's Cloyne transmitter site, still on the air in digital... we drive past this site all the time on our way to Napanee and Belleville.

A lot of solar activity this year.   The ionopshere is impacted by solar particles which super-charge the "e-layer".   It's too high up 125-150 km above the earth to be affected by climate change in my opinion.  Oxygen molecules (which are sparse in the E-layer) are impacted by the solar particles. Even so, carbon dioxide is probably not a factor in the ionization of the Es layer, which is responsible for skip.   There could also be some ionization of the F layer, above 150 km causing reflection of VHF signals. The TV reception of Global in Portugal - and in the last couple of days, FM Signals from the Azores were received in Worchester Mass - were all "double" or "triple" hop.   The Es layer (ionized) clouds have to line up mid-atlantic a couple of times to refract the signals..  So  it is unlikely that, global warming - due to higher concentrations of CO2  would be responsible for the activity this year.   I recall that in the 60's and 70's there were double hops at lower frequencies  - 50 mhz, observed quite often from N. Africa along the east coast.  This year, there are many instances of double-hop E-skip to California.   My best catches in the 60's were down to Denver and in those days the "maximum useable frequency" was usually to Ch. 3 or 4 (70 mhz) for those long skips.  Double hop to Calif, was unheard of, even in those "great" DX years.  Cuban TV, which is often a double hop to Canada was often seen in Toronto in the 60's and I saw a lot of Cuban TV in Fredonia NY in the early 70's - it was a daily occurrence during summer months.     This year, the MUF often goes up to around 106 MHz - and perhaps higher into the aeronautical band.

Last edited by tvguy (July 22, 2021 11:59 am)

Tim Brown 2016 wrote:

markow202 wrote:

tvguy wrote:

A lot of solar activity this year.   The ionopshere is impacted by solar particles which super-charge the "e-layer".   It's too high up 125-150 km above the earth to be affected by climate change in my opinion.  Oxygen molecules (which are sparse in the E-layer) are impacted by the solar particles. Even so, carbon dioxide is probably not a factor in the ionization of the Es layer, which is responsible for skip.   There could also be some ionization of the F layer, above 150 km causing reflection of VHF signals. The TV reception of Global in Portugal - and in the last couple of days, FM Signals from the Azores were received in Worchester Mass - were all "double" or "triple" hop.   The Es layer (ionized) clouds have to line up mid-atlantic a couple of times to refract the signals..  So  it is unlikely that, global warming - due to higher concentrations of CO2  would be responsible for the activity this year.   I recall that in the 60's and 70's there were double hops at lower frequencies  - 50 mhz, observed quite often from N. Africa along the east coast.  This year, there are many instances of double-hop E-skip to California.   My best catches in the 60's were down to Denver and in those days the "maximum useable frequency" was usually to Ch. 3 or 4 (70 mhz) for those long skips.  Double hop to Calif, was unheard of, even in those "great" DX years.  Cuban TV, which is often a double hop to Canada was often seen in Toronto in the 60's and I saw a lot of Cuban TV in Fredonia NY in the early 70's - it was a daily occurrence during summer months.     This year, the MUF often goes up to around 106 MHz - and perhaps higher into the aeronautical band.

Always such amazing info by tvguy! Over the weekend our crappy "HD" antenna on the roof of the cottage in Honey Harbour area was pulling in all of Toronto at night and some Buffalo ones.

I totally agree. I'm so grateful for what tvguy and the other technical people share here.

Just a minor clarification; those catches from Toronto and Buffalo at Honey Harbour would have been Tropo (tropospheric ducting), as opposed to E-Skip. Very cool nonetheless.

Indeed.  If it wasnt for the last hill (Mount St Louis/Moonstone area) I would receive Toronto signals (more-so radio) as they cut off after that hill.  
 

This is truly impressive. And I thought it was a big deal when I received two stations from the Mountain time zone in June 1977 in Hamilton. KTVS [now KCDU] ch 3 Sterling, Col. and KDUH [now KNEP]  ch 4 in Scottsbluff, Neb.

Saul wrote:

This DXer is legit; I'm familiar with his posts.

Very nice DX reception.  A great catch!

TV channel 2 sits at 54 MHz and these frequencies can often travel around the world thanks to the reflective properties of the ionosphere.

I have an amateur radio licence and one of the "ham" bands sits just below TV channel 2 at 50MHz.  My transmissions are regularly heard around the world with less than 100 watts when using the ham band frequencies (aka shortwave) between 7MHz and 50Mhz.

Good DXing