A few days ago, I was getting Local OTA Channels not in my DMA. I had OTA Channels as far away as Indianapolis, and OTA Locals from Champaign, Illinois. I live 45 Minutes to an 1 Hour from Terre Haute, Indiana, which is my DMA with Dish Locals/OTA. Some were on my lineup, but some were not strong enough to view on my HD TV. I did a reset, but my Hopper 3 was not connected to the Internet, which I did connect the Hopper 3 to the Internet. I did do another channel scan on my OTA, and those Channels are no longer there. Only my Local OTA Channels are there. Has anyone else had this issue with their OTA???
Was getting Local Channels from OTA, that were not in my DMA
- Thread starter jackson85
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To me this sounds like tropospheric ducting. I live just outside of Chicago, and when that happens, I will receive channels from way out of my DMA. If the OTA module picks up the slightest signal, it will add that channel to the lineup. But as soon as the conditions change, the signal goes back to zero then goes away.
Not sure if that is what happened for you, but what you are describing I have experienced myself when there is some strong tropospheric ducting.
Not sure if that is what happened for you, but what you are describing I have experienced myself when there is some strong tropospheric ducting.
"Skip" as we also call it in the DXing World. I live on the Oregon Coast, yet I have on occasion watched TV (When analog) from LA, Phoenix, Denver, etc.
I just did an OTA scan, and I picked up 31 Stations. Twelve of those were in my Local DMA. 3 channels were out of Indianapolis. I had I am thinking 5 PBS Channels that were not in my OTA DMA. I had 3 Champaign, Illinois Local Channels, that are not in my OTA DMA. It was very unusual, and I had a ABC not in my OTA DMA, also. It was strange and also weird, all because I did an OTA Scan. I tried a Reset on my Hopper 3, but for some reason, the Hopper 3 was not connected to the Internet. I did Connect to the Internet, and I noticed, that the channels were gone, when I did a current OTA Scan. I am not sure if that fixed the issue with the Distant Local OTA Channels, but I am glad that they are gone.
Back in the analog days when we lived on a mountaintop in the southern Adirondacks, we regularly watched programming from four different DMA's. We did have to dial the antenna rotor around some to get all of them clearly. The fun part was on occasion we'd be watching the video from NBC channel 3 in Hartford, CT, and when the program went to commercials find out the sound was coming from NBC channel 3 in Burlington, VT. That was back when channel ID's were the actual broadcast channels of course.
Back when I was younger, also on analog days, I lived way out in the country, and when the weather was acting up, we would channel 4 in Indianapolis. It wouldn't stay on long, and it would not happen very often.
Now they are. This was well back in the analog days. My memory may be off on which network it was, but I think it was NBC at the time.
Ok, you sent me digging into both station's histories. In the 1980's time frame I'm referring to, both WCAX, Burlington, VT and WTIC, Hartford, CT were broadcasting on RF channel 3 and both were CBS affiliates. My apologies for the misinformation regarding the network affiliation in my original post...
Happened a lot when I was younger (1970s) living in SE Wisconsin and we had a huge Winegard antenna with an Alliance rotor (clunk...clunk...clunk...clunk...) on the roof. Out of market UHF stations farther than Chicago (South Bend, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, etc.) usually came in better but VHF ones were usually way more distant. Farthest I ever received was Channel 3, Savannah, GA.
I am usually the first in line for a good pedantry, but there are limits. Remembering details from 4 decades ago, or being fuzzy on them, is well beyond the point.
Also, WTIC-TV - Wikipedia
Which one was in play in the time period specified? Not to be pedantic or anything.
We bought the mountaintop property in 1969, and I readily admit I could be quite fuzzy on the exact dates involved. At 78, my remaining time on this planet is too short to argue the point. You call it whatever you makes you happy...
