I swear there's something there on TV channel 2

[kenglish]

For the last few days, I swear I can see the faintest traces of a signal coming from the southwest, with my low-band VHF antenna.
Seems to happen in the late afternoon, mostly. I can see similar stuff on channel 3, as well.
It doesn't look so much like the usual 60 Hz hum, and I can almost see a trace of horizontal sync, but no picture yet. Horizontal bars look more "square-ish" like vertical blanking.
I'm just south of Salt Lake City (Midvale), and it's basically the same setup that has seen analog TV from Mexico (Baja, mostly) in past years.

Anybody else in the west seeing anything yet? It's almost May, now.

 

[fordranger797]

Is Mexico still using terrestrial analouge television? If so, I would defiantly establish this phenomenon as tropo. If Mexico is digital, perhaps there is some sort of low power analouge transmitter somewhere.

 

[frankberry]

I found this information on the internet:

On May 29, 2014, already delayed from November 2013 due to lack of resources, another wave of markets—Ciudad Juárez, Nuevo Laredo-Reynosa, Matamoros and Monterrey—are slated for digital switchover, followed by the Mexico City, Guadalajara and central regions on November 26, 2014, and the remainder of the country by December 31, 2015.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Frank Berry, I would think that you could see CHBX-TV 2 Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario with a decent antenna from Midland, MI quite regularly. I have seen some other Low Band VHFs and at least one High Band VHF from Northern Ontario near the Straits in the last few years, in addition to CHBX-TV Channel 2. It is usually late at night. I would think that you could see CHBX-TV frequently as far as 1500 miles away during Sporadic E Openings. I would think that that will be starting soon. The fact that there are so few full power analog stations on Channel 2 should make this quite an easy catch. The verification pictures I have seen on line are quite snowy, indicating to me that they are not using really good antennas, or that they are pointed in the wrong direction. I saw a nightlight service or two after the transition that were clearer at about 1200 miles.

 

[frankberry]

I'll look for CHBX. Before the switchover to digital, I could see WWUP-TV, Channel 10 from Sault Ste. Marie, MI.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I wish I still had a decent antenna on the roof to try for CHBX in Southeast Michigan. I would put one up, but I don't really have much time to do it. I just checked the distance between SSM and SLC on timeanddate.com. It was 1428 miles. kenglish, start turning your antenna NE during Sporadic E Openings. Good luck. Hope I can get a good antenna up soon.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

CHBX-TV DX Video. I don't know if they ID other than as CTV on any regular basis. There are others. One was snowy, but the guy was apparently using an FM-6.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mGdg6AJnGv0

 

[kenglish]

Here's what I've been using lately, as a reference:

http://tvdxtips.com/mexcitylist.html

 

[crainbebo]

XHBC is still on analog, for now. On channel 5, XHAQ is ditto. I've heard them a couple of times via Es using the 76-88 mhz part of the FM band on my Grundig. Also, I think CKND-TV2 is still on from Minnedosa MB but I may be wrong, and most of the time NW DXers get channel 2 XEPM Ciudad Juarez, XHFA Nogales (Azteca 13), and/or an Azteca 7 near Ensenada BCN. Can't believe the writing is on the wall for Spanish DX. Already 5 YEARS since the United States went digital - time flies! I still miss watching analog and seeing rolling bars and CCI on channels 2 and 3 during e-skip.

DTV may also be an OK option for you. But a lot of targets are not that far in e-skip range. KOTA, KNOP, KDLO, KSNB, KIVV, KBSD, etc. are probably 5-600 miles from you. KSNV 3/2 even closer from Vegas.