Eclipse Anomalies Create TV Reception Oddities?

I've been using over-the-air antennas the past two years or so to pull in free digital television transmissions from our local TV providers. 

During that time, the channels pulled in on our LED televisions have stayed within the parameters that sites like antennaweb.org outline as being "receivable" in our area -- the TV towers that are within range of our home in Omaha, NE. 

But there have been a couple of anomalies, and they have both coincided with significant astronomical events. One happened this morning and it jogged my memory of a similar instance back in 2015. 

In late Sept. 2015, I happened to be up early one morning and ran a channel scan on our living room TV (something my geeky side does periodically to see if there are any new channels in the market). 

On that particular day, I was able to tune in KAKE from Wichita, KS (digital channel 10.1). Wichita is roughly 330 miles southwest of Omaha. The fact that any antenna in Omaha picked that up was peculiar. The fact that it was a small, set-top bowtie antenna raised even more questions. 

So I did some research: On Sept. 27, 2015, there was a "Supermoon Lunar Eclipse" viewable in the United States. 

This morning, just two days before the "2017 Total Solar Eclipse" (Nebraska is in the "path of totality"), I decided to run a channel scan and see if any distant channels tuned in on my HDTVs. 

I was in the basement, and the 4K UHD set is currently hooked up to a small, bowtie-style antenna (RCA ANT1000) that is affixed to our basement window (which is a pretty difficult placement when it comes to long-range reception). 

Oddly enough, the TV tuned in PBS affiliate KOOD, Smoky Hills Public Television. KOOD is located in Bunker Hill, KS, which sits along the I-70 corridor in that state. It serves the western half of Kansas. 

The TV in our basement was able to tune in KOOD-DT channel 9.1 and its two subchannels (PBS Kids and PBS Create). The signal came in strong and stable this morning. 

(I was also able to receive the KOOD channels via our attic antenna on the HDTV in our living room.) 

Bunker Hill, KS, is about 300 miles southwest of Omaha. Like the Wichita station we received during the lunar eclipse in 2015, it is well out of our range.

These are the only two instances where I have been able to tune in channels that broadcast from so far afield.  

None of our antennas is particularly long range in nature (i.e. they aren't 100+-mile range outdoor mount antennas), and I haven't been able to pick up channels from places like Lincoln, NE, Sioux City, IA, or Des Moines, IA -- which are all closer than Wichita or Bunker Hill, KS. 

The only thing I can surmise is that atmospheric anomalies created by current "eclipse conditions" have an impact on the waves carrying the digital TV signals in our region.  

Check out my previous blog post: "Utah Trip, Part 4 -- Stranded, Slurpees, Trolley Square, Burgers, and a Tonka Truck"