Long gone I believe

Come up to Orillia! Where Buffalo stations are almost like locals. The signals seem to be funneled and enhanced by double lake skip across Lake Ontario and then Lake Simcoe. Drive along Hwy 11 from Barrie heading east-northeast along the waterfront and you can easily get the Buffalo superpowers on any decent car radio. 

In my driveway I can get WDCX in HD more than the nearby local in Bracebridge.  Almost all of the Buffalo stations have been easily received in my house with the exceptions of 93.7 and 104.1 as locals are on these frequencies.  I have a large Televes antenna on my roof and can also receive most of the OTA TV stations from Buffalo as well. Its definitely a strange anomaly enhanced due to my location as I live at the highest point in Orillia with clear line of site of Lake Simcoe. 

mhaw2001 wrote:

Come up to Orillia! Where Buffalo stations are almost like locals. The signals seem to be funneled and enhanced by double lake skip across Lake Ontario and then Lake Simcoe. Drive along Hwy 11 from Barrie heading east-northeast along the waterfront and you can easily get the Buffalo superpowers on any decent car radio. 

In my driveway I can get WDCX in HD more than the nearby local in Bracebridge.  Almost all of the Buffalo stations have been easily received in my house with the exceptions of 93.7 and 104.1 as locals are on these frequencies.  I have a large Televes antenna on my roof and can also receive most of the OTA TV stations from Buffalo as well. Its definitely a strange anomaly enhanced due to my location as I live at the highest point in Orillia with clear line of site of Lake Simcoe. 

I noticed this driving on highway 11 even the Toronto stations stay stable but once you get past orillia they die off.  On the 400 Toronto stations will get to about Mt St Louis ski area and once you turn the hill they die off because of the hill (near coldwater) if it wasnt for the hill it would travel into Muskoka for sure. 

I can get Grand Island stations 29 and 17 100% of the time everyday, under all conditions.  Next set would be 4, 51 and 7.  These are clear and active around 80% of the time when I check.  Ch 2 is indeed the hardest to receive but it will be active around 50% of the time.  I have never received 49 (which is now ATSC-3 only) and 67. My antenna is only good for RF7 and up.   21 Rochester has popped up under ideal conditions as well. 

Radio wise 94.5, 98.5, 99.5 and 102.5 are the strongest, I can get 106.5 reliably over CFPT. 88.3, 103.3, 96.1 and 96.9 are receivable in favourable conditions and 107.7 with a good DSP radio with bandwidth control to tame local on 107.5.
 

mhaw2001 wrote:

I can get Grand Island stations 29 and 17 100% of the time everyday, under all conditions.  Next set would be 4, 51 and 7.  These are clear and active around 80% of the time when I check.  Ch 2 is indeed the hardest to receive but it will be active around 50% of the time.  I have never received 49 (which is now ATSC-3 only) and 67. My antenna is only good for RF7 and up.   21 Rochester has popped up under ideal conditions as well. 

Radio wise 94.5, 98.5, 99.5 and 102.5 are the strongest, I can get 106.5 reliably over CFPT. 88.3, 103.3, 96.1 and 96.9 are receivable in favourable conditions and 107.7 with a good DSP radio with bandwidth control to tame local on 107.5.
 

Does favourable conditions mean tropo? I must say you do well considering the distance.

I am a member of a Facebook group where people discuss their reception issues. Many members are former station engineers or antenna installers so there is a wealth of information on the site. The general consensus is that once you hit the 75 mile distance from the transmitting tower, no matter the antenna, you have basically hit your non tropo reception limit. With the Buffalo Big Three being roughly 85 miles from the GTA I guess we should be thankful the Lake Ontario water path helps with reliable reception.

Very impressive reception indeed. I assume you have no issues with  CBLT, CFTO, CITY, CHCH, TVO etc.