I live 120 miles from the Canadian border, way too far to get broadcast TV. For those of you close to the Canadian and Mexican borders, what stations can you get on an antenna? And how far can the signals of American stations close to the border reach into other countries?
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OTA reception of foreign stations (and vice versa)
- Thread starter installLSC
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A border is an imaginary line. Radio signals do not recognize the and stop to show their documents. So a Canadian or Mexican station located at or near the border with the US will cover just like an Illinois station might cover into Indiana or Wisconsin or other peripheral states.
Most stations in border areas don't intentionally limit coverage across the border unless doing so might interfere with another station on the same frequency or an adjacent one.
And, unless limited by a protected station, many US stations get good usable signals into those countries as well as nearby nations like the Bahamas.
Seventy miles away, nothing comes in here in the flatlands from Mexico on the TV bands. There are communities substantially closer to the border, and I'd suspect they could be receiving signals.
Southern Arizona is a series of valleys and mountain ranges. Some signals travel well, others, not so much.
Southern Arizona is a series of valleys and mountain ranges. Some signals travel well, others, not so much.
The DTV conversion and repack have changed things considerably in a lot of cross-border situations. The one I know best, because it's so near here, is Toronto and Buffalo. There are a fair number of Toronto viewers who have turned to OTA reception in recent years to get past "simsub" so they can watch US programming without having it replaced by Canadian promos and commercials.
There are two groups of transmitter sites serving Buffalo - one on Grand Island, between Buffalo and Niagara Falls, that is closer to Toronto and puts better signals up there, and another cluster of towers in the hills south of Buffalo, 30 miles or so south, that reaches more US viewers on the southern fringe of the market at the expense of good reach into Toronto. The PBS station (heavily dependent on Canadian member dollars) and the Fox station (runs a fair amount of paid programming aimed at Canada) are on Grand Island. The ABC, NBC and CBS/CW (channel share) are all in the south hills. With a decent antenna and some height (especially south-facing balconies in all those tall apartment buildings), I know a fair number of Canadians who can watch all of them.
But it's harder than it used to be in the analog days.
There are two groups of transmitter sites serving Buffalo - one on Grand Island, between Buffalo and Niagara Falls, that is closer to Toronto and puts better signals up there, and another cluster of towers in the hills south of Buffalo, 30 miles or so south, that reaches more US viewers on the southern fringe of the market at the expense of good reach into Toronto. The PBS station (heavily dependent on Canadian member dollars) and the Fox station (runs a fair amount of paid programming aimed at Canada) are on Grand Island. The ABC, NBC and CBS/CW (channel share) are all in the south hills. With a decent antenna and some height (especially south-facing balconies in all those tall apartment buildings), I know a fair number of Canadians who can watch all of them.
But it's harder than it used to be in the analog days.
So how far did the Buffalo stations signals go in the analog days?
In the old analog days (up to the 2011 shutoff in Canada), you could be on one of the Bothell/Woodinville hills and have a steady and fair signal of CHEK Victoria's audio on 87.75. Roughly 70 miles. They were even stronger right near the water and up near Marysville. I'm sure the Vancouver VHFs could also be seen in variable strength in those areas, and possibly CIVT/CHNM on UHF, but I was never able to check.
Remember, too, that way back in the 60's famous radio station owner Gordon McLendon (KILT, KLIF, KTSA, KELP, KABL, WAKY, WYSL, WYNR, XETRA and others) owned KCND television in Pembina, ND, which offered programming quite easily viewed to in Winnipeg, Manitoba; with an outside antenna and rotor, people could watch US TV instead of the rather conservative CBC offerings at the time.
And 50 kw on 690 XETRA in Tijuana was "Extra News over Los Angeles" and the first US market all-news station about 60 years ago.
There are, of course, several "border blaster" books available with stories of the Mexican stations that served huge parts of the US at night going back to the "goat gland" doctor about eighty-some years ago!
You triggered some big memories... of ancient history!
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Since the TV repack in the US are there any Canadian stations above channel 36 that still come in inside the US?
Canada has mostly repacked as well. Toronto, for instance, is all fully within the new 2-36 spectrum. A lot of outlying Canadian transmitters have been shut off completely, which eliminated some of the signals in Belleville and Peterborough, Ontario, that used to come in here in Rochester when conditions were good. Some never converted to digital at all, like CJOH's channel 6 in Deseronto, Ontario, straight across the lake from here.
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