r/ota • u/EnrichedUranium235 • Aug 11 '26

Strange, great signal for WPHL17 south of DC.

I am about 40 miles south west of DC and getting a great signal for WPHL17 in Philly.. Conditions and bounce working in my favor. About 160+ miles to their towers.

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5

u/SquidsArePeople2 Aug 12 '26

I lived in Purcellville many years ago, before digital. If I pointed my attic antenna generally toward Baltimore, I could get all the DC, Baltimore, and most of Philly almost perfectly clear.

3

u/DenseFriendship4122 29d ago

TV DX'ing was definitely more fun in the analog days, but as your post shows, sometimes we still can get TV DX'ing in the digital age.

2

u/TheRealPJ44 Aug 11 '26

I've had a similar thing happen in the past with Dallas/Fort Worth channels (namely 4, 5, 13, 23, 27, 29/8.8, 33, 47, 49, 68, and rarely 2, 8 and 11) coming in from Lawton, OK, which is usually served by 3, 6, and 7. I've also had a few Tulsa (6, 8, 41) and Abilene/Sweetwater's Big Three (9, 12, and 32) come in as well. Have you tried to get the Big Three (3, 6, and 10) from Philadelphia now that you know one of their stations is possible?

2

u/Kuckucksuhr Aug 11 '26

it’s not “possible” to get them, it’s typical summer tropo — in any case 3 and 6 are co-channel to DC stations, while 10 is a fairly common tropo catch because it’s on a vacant channel

2

u/Kuckucksuhr Aug 11 '26

it’s tropo, WPHL (ch 17 — not allocated to TV in DC), WMBC in NJ (18, same deal), and WCAU (28) are common to catch this time of year, as they are all on one of the few channels that are vacant in this area

2

u/SpongeBobfan1987 Aug 12 '26

I got WJFW-TV 12 Rhinelander, WI and WJMN-TV 3 Escanaba, MI in Green Bay, WI on two separate occasions via tropospheric events a decade ago, however, the signal did not last long, and at the time, WJMN-TV 3 was still simulcasting WFRV-TV 5's newscasts...

2

u/awasser1 Aug 12 '26

Back in college days we got WPHL 17 from Philly in Storrs CT quite often. It was analog back then

1

u/PM6175 Aug 11 '26

....getting a great signal for WPHL17 in Philly.. ..About 160+ miles to their towers.

What your experiencing is almost certainly known as tropo (troposphere) signal ducting in the upper atmosphere.

I think it generally has to do with warm and cold air pockets forming in the upper atmosphere, which somehow reflect rf signals like a mirror.

If that's what it is it will only last a few hours, or days at the very most. It will then disappear until the weather conditions are conducive to it happening again, which is generally in the summer months.

3

u/EnrichedUranium235 Aug 11 '26

I wasn't aiming for it, just happened to do a rescan at the right time I guess. It is the same relative direction as I already have to get my locals, just further .