I had seen the thread on how far away you can receive your local radio stations. By extension, I was wondering if anyone else here engaged in long-distance listening (especially on FM).
Anyway, last night there was a great opening to the east. Where I currently am in east-central Texas, I was picking up stations from Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and even Gulfport, MS. Easily surpassing my previous record (201 miles) by nearly double (471 miles).
Quote from: TravelingBethelite on March 27, 2020, 12:45:19 PM
I had seen the thread on how far away you can receive your local radio stations. By extension, I was wondering if anyone else here engaged in long-distance listening (especially on FM).
Anyway, last night there was a great opening to the east. Where I currently am in east-central Texas, I was picking up stations from Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and even Gulfport, MS. Easily surpassing my previous record (201 miles) by nearly double (471 miles).
I haven't DX'd FM so much as I have the AM band and television. Television isn't as fun anymore with the digital signals as compared to the old analog. From my area near Evansville, IN I had picked up Cuba on a very strange day (1100+ miles), another day UHF stations from Chicago (300 miles away), and yet another day Regina, Saskatchewan (about 1200 miles). Alas, I've become older and don't have as much fun as before.
I love DXing. Why listen to a local station when you can listen to another station of the same network hundreds of (km/miles, pick what you like more) away. There are two main ways to do this on the FM band: Tropospheric ducting, which happens when there is a temperature inversion (gotta love foggy days :sombrero:); and Sporadic-E or E-skip, which happens when a layer of the ionosphere, the E layer, becomes densely ionized and reflects signals back and happens mostly during Summer. Last year I picked up a Moroccan station this way.
From Manistee, MI, I have gotten tropo-enhanced stations from as far away as Kearney, Nebraska (nearly 700 miles!) with just a portable radio with its included whip antenna. I've gotten stations from as far away as El Paso, TX and Miami, FL via E-skip.
Lake Michigan (and the other Great Lakes) can also affect signals dramatically. At times, stations from Green Bay, Milwaukee, Wausau, Escanaba, Marinette, and Marquette can come in very strong. On multiple occasions, I've received a 250 watt translator from Wausau, WI that is on an adjacent frequency to a station three miles away.
Back when I was a teen, 2m propagation was taking place on a simplex frequency in this area. Coquille OR was the receiving location. Crescent City CA was where the transmission came from. It was static-filled but readable. The distance covered would be about 120 miles. Power levels were likely 25W or less with the antennas being vertical ones instead of steerable yagis, so this was not taking place with optimum equipment and power levels.
Rick
Here is some FM DX E-Skip from Carrollton, MO, originally recorded on 5-25-2014, that I finally got around to uploading.
KBNA 97.5FM, El Paso, TX (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbf18pgBB1E)
KWKM 95.7FM, St. Johns, AZ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhUuKrrMHgU)
KYOT 95.5FM, Phoenix, AZ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ATwv0lAtSQ)
KLAQ 95.5FM, El Paso, TX (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NC6cR4QJE8)
KHFM 95.5FM, Santa Fe, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3CQ58GfZD0)
KLQT (Now KOLZ.) 95.1FM, Corrales, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOZYYyTV2Lc)
KWYK 94.9FM, Aztec, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SloKCmPFnIQ)
KYSE 94.7FM, El Paso, TX (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55hrsECWfpI)
KXXI 93.7FM, Gallup, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AyhRrd2Tng)
KSBV 93.7FM, Salida, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s25jaILDh8)
KCCY 96.9FM, Pueblo, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LcAfRVGiSg)
KYGO 98.5FM, Denver, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewgdfjdaX1M)
KEKB 99.9FM, Grand Junction, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2dZENCqp-c)
KEGA 101.5FM, Oakley, UT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIviyfdVDZE)
KTAK 93.9FM, Riverton, WY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpMk2VGdZ-A)
KCHH 95.5FM, Worden, MT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deWwsLrxhUs)
Quote from: Route66Fan on April 13, 2020, 02:17:25 AM
Here is some FM DX E-Skip from Carrollton, MO, originally recorded on 5-25-2014, that I finally got around to uploading.
KBNA 97.5FM, El Paso, TX (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbf18pgBB1E)
KWKM 95.7FM, St. Johns, AZ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhUuKrrMHgU)
KYOT 95.5FM, Phoenix, AZ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ATwv0lAtSQ)
KLAQ 95.5FM, El Paso, TX (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NC6cR4QJE8)
KHFM 95.5FM, Santa Fe, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3CQ58GfZD0)
KLQT (Now KOLZ.) 95.1FM, Corrales, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOZYYyTV2Lc)
KWYK 94.9FM, Aztec, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SloKCmPFnIQ)
KYSE 94.7FM, El Paso, TX (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55hrsECWfpI)
KXXI 93.7FM, Gallup, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AyhRrd2Tng)
KSBV 93.7FM, Salida, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s25jaILDh8)
KCCY 96.9FM, Pueblo, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LcAfRVGiSg)
KYGO 98.5FM, Denver, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewgdfjdaX1M)
KEKB 99.9FM, Grand Junction, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2dZENCqp-c)
KEGA 101.5FM, Oakley, UT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIviyfdVDZE)
KTAK 93.9FM, Riverton, WY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpMk2VGdZ-A)
KCHH 95.5FM, Worden, MT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deWwsLrxhUs)
That's an amazing list of FM DX stations! You must have been in a super sweet spot without a ton of local FM stations present to block the signal.
Rick
I remember once in 1990 (just outside Cincinnati), I faintly received a Chicago oldies station and a Detroit oldies station battling it out on the same dial position. By coincidence, these stations were owned by the same company. (I had the old M Street Radio Directory to look it up.)
With an old stereo that I had from 1990 to 2012, I used to in the mid-90's try to see how far I could reach out at night on the AM dial. I forget what station it was, but from where I am now I got a sports station in Minneapolis, which floored me. I used to routinely listen to Orioles games on their flagship AM station at night in the early 90's with virtually no static at all.
Never tried it with FM, but I remember one time in my car driving home from Hamden CT that I was trying to listen to 93.7 in Providence and it was being heavily interfered with by a station in Philly at the same signal. Only happened once out of more than a dozen times making that drive.
Now that I inherited the house I grew up in, my late father left a stereo in the garage with a large wire antenna array hooked up to it. I wonder if I should try on that. I've used to it only to listen to one single Boston station since moving back.
Quote from: Life in Paradise on March 27, 2020, 01:08:56 PM
I haven't DX'd FM so much as I have the AM band and television. Television isn't as fun anymore with the digital signals as compared to the old analog. From my area near Evansville, IN I had picked up Cuba on a very strange day (1100+ miles), another day UHF stations from Chicago (300 miles away), and yet another day Regina, Saskatchewan (about 1200 miles). Alas, I've become older and don't have as much fun as before.
Amazing on those TV signals. I never tried to get anything further than NYC from north of Boston, watching Yankees broadcasts on WPIX back with Phil Rizzuto did the games. Getting a signal over 1000 miles away is mind-blowing.
As far as TV DX-ing, during my freshman year at the University of Toledo in the 80s, I lived on the 11th floor of the high rise dorm. One evening, the TV in my room pulled in close to 60 of the available 83 UHF/VHF channels from Youngstown, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago and a good chunk of the Michigan Mitt. Never got that many channels before, and never again after that one night.
I remember a brief period when a few people around here regularly listened to WBZ Boston - which became popular because Dave Cowens played for the Boston Celtics.
Quote from: bandit957 on April 13, 2020, 01:18:39 PM
I remember once in 1990 (just outside Cincinnati), I faintly received a Chicago oldies station and a Detroit oldies station battling it out on the same dial position. By coincidence, these stations were owned by the same company. (I had the old M Street Radio Directory to look it up.)
104.3. Then it was WJMK and WOMC.
I've had a lot of experience DXing distant stations. Multiple times from Charleston I've gotten FM stations from Detroit, Toronto, Quebec, Minneapolis, and northern Ontario.
The furthest I've gotten from here is a couple of stations from San Angelo, TX and one from Lubbock.
Quote from: nexus73 on April 13, 2020, 12:18:14 PM
Quote from: Route66Fan on April 13, 2020, 02:17:25 AM
Here is some FM DX E-Skip from Carrollton, MO, originally recorded on 5-25-2014, that I finally got around to uploading.
KBNA 97.5FM, El Paso, TX (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbf18pgBB1E)
KWKM 95.7FM, St. Johns, AZ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhUuKrrMHgU)
KYOT 95.5FM, Phoenix, AZ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ATwv0lAtSQ)
KLAQ 95.5FM, El Paso, TX (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NC6cR4QJE8)
KHFM 95.5FM, Santa Fe, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3CQ58GfZD0)
KLQT (Now KOLZ.) 95.1FM, Corrales, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOZYYyTV2Lc)
KWYK 94.9FM, Aztec, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SloKCmPFnIQ)
KYSE 94.7FM, El Paso, TX (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55hrsECWfpI)
KXXI 93.7FM, Gallup, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AyhRrd2Tng)
KSBV 93.7FM, Salida, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s25jaILDh8)
KCCY 96.9FM, Pueblo, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LcAfRVGiSg)
KYGO 98.5FM, Denver, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewgdfjdaX1M)
KEKB 99.9FM, Grand Junction, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2dZENCqp-c)
KEGA 101.5FM, Oakley, UT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIviyfdVDZE)
KTAK 93.9FM, Riverton, WY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpMk2VGdZ-A)
KCHH 95.5FM, Worden, MT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deWwsLrxhUs)
That's an amazing list of FM DX stations! You must have been in a super sweet spot without a ton of local FM stations present to block the signal.
Rick
Yeah, it is a pretty good area, only a couple of full power & one low power FM stations. In the past few years, I've gotten some better FM receivers (Including a couple of SDR's.) & have made some modifications to some other FM radios by replacing the wide-band ceramic IF filters in them with narrower band, 150khz, filters, to improve the receivers sensitivity & selectivity. I do have some other recordings to upload eventually.
Better Selectivity and Sensitivity From Virtually any FM Radio! (http://earmark.net/gesr/select.htm)
Quote from: Route66Fan on April 17, 2020, 03:11:30 AM
Quote from: nexus73 on April 13, 2020, 12:18:14 PM
Quote from: Route66Fan on April 13, 2020, 02:17:25 AM
Here is some FM DX E-Skip from Carrollton, MO, originally recorded on 5-25-2014, that I finally got around to uploading.
KBNA 97.5FM, El Paso, TX (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbf18pgBB1E)
KWKM 95.7FM, St. Johns, AZ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhUuKrrMHgU)
KYOT 95.5FM, Phoenix, AZ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ATwv0lAtSQ)
KLAQ 95.5FM, El Paso, TX (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NC6cR4QJE8)
KHFM 95.5FM, Santa Fe, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3CQ58GfZD0)
KLQT (Now KOLZ.) 95.1FM, Corrales, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOZYYyTV2Lc)
KWYK 94.9FM, Aztec, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SloKCmPFnIQ)
KYSE 94.7FM, El Paso, TX (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55hrsECWfpI)
KXXI 93.7FM, Gallup, NM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AyhRrd2Tng)
KSBV 93.7FM, Salida, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s25jaILDh8)
KCCY 96.9FM, Pueblo, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LcAfRVGiSg)
KYGO 98.5FM, Denver, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewgdfjdaX1M)
KEKB 99.9FM, Grand Junction, CO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2dZENCqp-c)
KEGA 101.5FM, Oakley, UT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIviyfdVDZE)
KTAK 93.9FM, Riverton, WY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpMk2VGdZ-A)
KCHH 95.5FM, Worden, MT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deWwsLrxhUs)
That's an amazing list of FM DX stations! You must have been in a super sweet spot without a ton of local FM stations present to block the signal.
Rick
Yeah, it is a pretty good area, only a couple of full power & one low power FM stations. In the past few years, I've gotten some better FM receivers (Including a couple of SDR's.) & have made some modifications to some other FM radios by replacing the wide-band ceramic IF filters in them with narrower band, 150khz, filters, to improve the receivers sensitivity & selectivity. I do have some other recordings to upload eventually.
Better Selectivity and Sensitivity From Virtually any FM Radio! (http://earmark.net/gesr/select.htm)
Coos Bay OR is about 75 airmiles from Eugene, which had an AOR station my friend wanted to listen to. In between these two cities lays the Coast Range so he put up a FM yagi on top of a tall tree, then added a pre-amp between the antenna and stereo so he could hear the station. It worked quite well and would make an interesting way to see what the results of trying to receive more distant regional stations is like.
Rick
Depends on what part of the country you are in, at night you could get two different AM stations on the same channel. one year, when i was visiting family in Alabama, i tuned a radio i took along on the trip and tuned the radio to 800 and got CKLW in Windsor and re-positioned the radio and got Trans World Radio in the Netherlands Antilles.
Here in Jackson, MS, I've gotten stations as far north as Bridgeport, CT and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and as far west as the Four Corners Area. In Atlanta, I got a rock station out of Manhattan, KS.
I once put a TV cable on the back of an old stereo and got WMIL out of Milwaukee rather clearly.
My primary hobby these days is amateur radio.
I do lots of DXing. :D
My 10 most recent contacts can usually be found listed here: https://www.clublog.org/last10_iframe.php?call=n1en
A map showing a sample of the 100k contacts I've made: http://www.hrdlog.net/Map2.aspx?user=N1EN
And about a year and a half ago, here's what I posted on a related thread focused on the MW broadcast band: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=23797.msg2365738#msg2365738
Quote from: golden eagle on April 19, 2020, 09:31:55 PM
Here in Jackson, MS, I've gotten stations as far north as Bridgeport, CT...
Likely these stations:
WEZN-FM 99.9 Bridgeport ("Star 99.9")
WEBE-FM 107.9 Westport ("WEBE 108"...pronounced as "Wee-bee"). Their transmitter is atop a smokestack of a power plant, next to I-95.
Quote from: bandit957 on April 13, 2020, 01:18:39 PM
I remember once in 1990 (just outside Cincinnati), I faintly received a Chicago oldies station and a Detroit oldies station battling it out on the same dial position. By coincidence, these stations were owned by the same company. (I had the old M Street Radio Directory to look it up.)
I'm just guessing it was WOMC and WJMK on 104.3.
Quote from: Flint1979 on April 20, 2020, 07:30:44 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on April 13, 2020, 01:18:39 PM
I remember once in 1990 (just outside Cincinnati), I faintly received a Chicago oldies station and a Detroit oldies station battling it out on the same dial position. By coincidence, these stations were owned by the same company. (I had the old M Street Radio Directory to look it up.)
I'm just guessing it was WOMC and WJMK on 104.3.
Those 2 cities are fairly far apart compared to Philly and NYC, which often have stations on the same dial position. Chicago - Detroit are about 230 miles apart as the crow flies; Philly & NYC are only 80 miles apart. Many years ago, Philly's 100.3 changed formats and decided to call themselves Z-100...even though a station on 100.3 in NYC had the same format and had been using Z-100 for years. That caused a great deal of confusion, and eventually Philly's station changed their name (Y100 or something like that).
Quote from: Flint1979 on April 20, 2020, 07:30:44 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on April 13, 2020, 01:18:39 PM
I remember once in 1990 (just outside Cincinnati), I faintly received a Chicago oldies station and a Detroit oldies station battling it out on the same dial position. By coincidence, these stations were owned by the same company. (I had the old M Street Radio Directory to look it up.)
I'm just guessing it was WOMC and WJMK on 104.3.
I'm pretty sure it was. This wasn't long before there was a station on 104.3 around here.
Quote from: KEVIN_224 on April 19, 2020, 11:32:19 PM
Quote from: golden eagle on April 19, 2020, 09:31:55 PM
Here in Jackson, MS, I've gotten stations as far north as Bridgeport, CT...
Likely these stations:
WEZN-FM 99.9 Bridgeport ("Star 99.9")
WEBE-FM 107.9 Westport ("WEBE 108"...pronounced as "Wee-bee"). Their transmitter is atop a smokestack of a power plant, next to I-95.
It was WEBE.
I was thrilled to pull KOA in Denver in. That's about 1,000 miles away.
Quote from: golden eagle on April 20, 2020, 04:52:22 PM
Quote from: KEVIN_224 on April 19, 2020, 11:32:19 PM
Quote from: golden eagle on April 19, 2020, 09:31:55 PM
Here in Jackson, MS, I've gotten stations as far north as Bridgeport, CT...
Likely these stations:
WEZN-FM 99.9 Bridgeport ("Star 99.9")
WEBE-FM 107.9 Westport ("WEBE 108"...pronounced as "Wee-bee"). Their transmitter is atop a smokestack of a power plant, next to I-95.
It was WEBE.
One of my home stations. I fondly remember driving around listening to it as a kid. That would be an ultimate catch in my book, if I could catch it via E-skip here in Texas.
Back in the Seventies I was scanning the AM band manually here in the Coos Bay area. Knowing the stations which should be on, when I heard the callsign KDKA out of Pittsburgh, my first thought was that a station had opened up in the California city that uses this name.
A trip to the library was made. Information was found on KDKA. It was located in the Steel City. Wow, all the way across the continent, a new record for me then and it has yet to be broken on the AM broadcast band. I sent them a signal report. KDKA responded with a QSL card, which let me know they were the first commercial broadcast station in the USA. They went on air back in 1921. Having that factoid added to receiving them made this catch a double wowser DX in my book!
Rick
Last week, I received 107.9 WEAT "Sunny 107.9" from West Palm Beach, FL, along with 93.1 WFEZ and 96.5 WPOW, in Manistee, MI.
Speaking of Detroit and Chicago sharing frequencies, northeast Wisconsin (93.9, 94.7, 99.5, 100.3, 101.1, 102.7, 104.3, 105.1, 106.7, 107.5) and northern Michigan (92.3, 93.9, 95.5, 96.3 x2, 98.7, 100.3, 101.9, 102.7, 103.5, 105.1, 105.9, 106.7, 107.5) also shares some frequencies with those two.
It always bugged me that there was a 92.9 in both Lexington and Dayton. I used to try to listen to 'American Top 40' on 92.9 in Dayton because the Cincinnati affiliate often butchered it, but Lexington kept cutting in on it.
But I regularly listened to 94.5 in Lexington.
I believe I usually listen to 92.1 in the Lexington area. I know I listen to 92.5 in Cincinnati and 104.7 in Dayton.
So I've caught an E-skip opening to Northern Europe, and I've managed to identify a Danish station (thanks to Radio Data System, RDS :sombrero:), which at just over 1100 miles away is my new personal record. As a fun fact I've crushed my own distance record by a factor of almost 1.609344.
Bumping an old thread, here is a news report about, not AM\FM Radio DX'ing, but TV DX'ing from WSMV-TV in Nashville, TN, from the mid-to-late 1980's. Featuring some rare TV station ID's.
Amusingly in the military world DXing refers to downing a bunch of Dexamorphone to mask withdrawal symptoms.
In the '90s when I was in SoCal and regularly visiting my family in the Bay Area I was driving a 1972 Ford Maverick which had a Philco AM radio with a substantial whip antenna. Driving up US-101 or I-5 at night (my preferred travel time) I could get most of the Western clear channel stations (KIRO, KOA, etc) - picked up WGN and WHO a couple of times.
When I was in Los Angeles I could easily pick up the San Francisco stations (KGO, KCBS, etc.) as early as 4 or 5pm, depending on the time of year.
I had a good e-skip season this year. I've identified radio stations from Morocco, Tunisia, Greece (new record for me at almost 2000 km) and the Portuguese island of Madeira. I was shocked when I confirmed the origin of the signal (mainland Portugal is too close to me for e-skip), although I had suspected because I had already confirmed a signal from Morocco that day.
I climbed to the top of Mt Taylor in NM, and got in contact with a ham station in ABQ, about 85-90 miles. Pretty good for 2m.
When i was a little fat kid, my father used to have a CB base station rig, complete with gigantic antenna on the roof. He used to do skip sessions that were like 1000 miles away, around 1980-81 (it had something to do with the sunspot cycle, as i recall). He could get a lot of bang out of 12 watts back then.
Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on September 14, 2021, 12:09:21 PM
When i was a little fat kid, my father used to have a CB base station rig, complete with gigantic antenna on the roof. He used to do skip sessions that were like 1000 miles away, around 1980-81 (it had something to do with the sunspot cycle, as i recall). He could get a lot of bang out of 12 watts back then.
I still do that lol. I talk skip a lot and believe it or not there are still people out there just not like it was in the 70's and 80's. I can talk to the east coast pretty easily like Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island.
I remember something poopy from circa 1989.
I used to listen to the old WLAP-FM (94.5) of Lexington. I lived far south enough of Cincinnati that we could usually pick up this station like it was next door. But a couple times, the station was overpowered by an easy listening station in the Naples/Fort Myers, Fla., area called WCVU.
How was WCVU able to overpower WLAP?
Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on March 27, 2020, 03:17:51 PMSporadic-E or E-skip, which happens when a layer of the ionosphere, the E layer, becomes densely ionized and reflects signals back and happens mostly during Summer.
There you go.
Quote from: nexus73 on April 20, 2020, 10:59:27 PM
Back in the Seventies I was scanning the AM band manually here in the Coos Bay area. Knowing the stations which should be on, when I heard the callsign KDKA out of Pittsburgh, my first thought was that a station had opened up in the California city that uses this name.
A trip to the library was made. Information was found on KDKA. It was located in the Steel City. Wow, all the way across the continent, a new record for me then and it has yet to be broken on the AM broadcast band. I sent them a signal report. KDKA responded with a QSL card, which let me know they were the first commercial broadcast station in the USA. They went on air back in 1921. Having that factoid added to receiving them made this catch a double wowser DX in my book!
Rick
The farthest I've ever pulled in my home town station was down on the south side of Columbia, SC, about ~540 miles from Pittsburgh. That's my personal best with them.
In the Teays Valley of West Virginia, we couldn't get any FM stations outside our local listening area. But the AM stations making the skip were amazing (in order of most occurrences):
WRVA AM-1140 Richmond, Virginia
WLW AM-700 Cincinnati, Ohio
WWVA AM-1170 Wheeling, West Virginia
WBT AM-1110 Charlotte, North Carolina
WHAM AM-1180 Rochester, New York
KIKI AM-990 Honolulu, Hawai'i
WSM AM-650 Nashville, Tennessee
KMOX AM-1120 St. Louis, Missouri
WKBW AM-1520 Buffalo, New York
WWL AM-870 New Orleans, Louisiana
Just thinking back at this, I sure spent a lot of time zooming in on the 1100-1220 part of the AM band. Also, I'm still amazed of how many times I was able to pull in the Honolulu station.
Quote from: Dirt Roads on September 18, 2021, 11:04:42 AM
In the Teays Valley of West Virginia, we couldn't get any FM stations outside our local listening area. But the AM stations making the skip were amazing (in order of most occurrences):
WRVA AM-1140 Richmond, Virginia
WLW AM-700 Cincinnati, Ohio
WWVA AM-1170 Wheeling, West Virginia
WBT AM-1110 Charlotte, North Carolina
WHAM AM-1180 Rochester, New York
KIKI AM-990 Honolulu, Hawai'i
WSM AM-650 Nashville, Tennessee
KMOX AM-1120 St. Louis, Missouri
WKBW AM-1520 Buffalo, New York
WLW AM-870 New Orleans, Louisiana
Just thinking back at this, I sure spent a lot of time zooming in on the 1100-1220 part of the AM band. Also, I'm still amazed of how many times I was able to pull in the Honolulu station.
I guess it's probably easy to do since their letters are the same but just in different order but WWL for 870 in New Orleans.
Went camping in Grand Teton National Park last week, because I booked the vacation late and no cabins in Yellowstone were available. I was missing a Seattle Mariners game, and there was no cell coverage or wi-fi here, so I checked to see if KIRO 710 could be heard from here. It couldn't, I got a Rangers-Florida game on that frequency instead, so I tuned around the dial with my car radio in case I had better luck with a network affiliate. From Seattle I had been able to hear Dodger Baseball from their Las Vegas affiliate rather than from the flagship station, so I know it was a possibility. Instead, I heard KOMO on 1000, which was the Mariners flagship station for a few years. Locally, the station isn't strong in North Bend at night, and now I know where that signal goes to.
Recently I managed to get a RDS id saying "Andorra" :sombrero:. However it didn't came from the Principality of Andorra, but rather from a town in the province of Teruel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andorra,_Teruel). I don't have reception of any stations from the country, but I have semi-permanent reception of a station transmitting from the homonym town (better terrain in that direction), which does so on 95.1. Normally it broadcasts Cadena Dial (confirmed by checking to my local 95.8), however the Aragon MotoGP was going on that day and it was airing the races instead, along with its sisters at 103.1 and 103.4 (which I also get on a semi-permanent basis and otherwise air La SER).
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on September 13, 2021, 01:11:08 PM
Amusingly in the military world DXing refers to downing a bunch of Dexamorphone to mask withdrawal symptoms.
In the legal field, it's shorthand for "defendant's/defendants' exhibit"
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on September 18, 2021, 08:37:46 PM
Went camping in Grand Teton National Park last week, because I booked the vacation late and no cabins in Yellowstone were available. I was missing a Seattle Mariners game, and there was no cell coverage or wi-fi here, so I checked to see if KIRO 710 could be heard from here. It couldn't, I got a Rangers-Florida game on that frequency instead, so I tuned around the dial with my car radio in case I had better luck with a network affiliate. From Seattle I had been able to hear Dodger Baseball from their Las Vegas affiliate rather than from the flagship station, so I know it was a possibility. Instead, I heard KOMO on 1000, which was the Mariners flagship station for a few years. Locally, the station isn't strong in North Bend at night, and now I know where that signal goes to.
The thing is it's about 600 miles from Seattle to Grand Teton so if you were trying to do it during the day you wouldn't of been able to pull it in even with their class A 50,000 watt signal. But then at night it uses a directional antenna to protect WOR and KSPN but WOR is in New York City so I'm unsure how a Seattle station is going to interfere with that. I can't even pull WOR in that good in Michigan at night.
Quote from: Flint1979 on September 24, 2021, 09:20:12 AM
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on September 18, 2021, 08:37:46 PM
Went camping in Grand Teton National Park last week, because I booked the vacation late and no cabins in Yellowstone were available. I was missing a Seattle Mariners game, and there was no cell coverage or wi-fi here, so I checked to see if KIRO 710 could be heard from here. It couldn't, I got a Rangers-Florida game on that frequency instead, so I tuned around the dial with my car radio in case I had better luck with a network affiliate. From Seattle I had been able to hear Dodger Baseball from their Las Vegas affiliate rather than from the flagship station, so I know it was a possibility. Instead, I heard KOMO on 1000, which was the Mariners flagship station for a few years. Locally, the station isn't strong in North Bend at night, and now I know where that signal goes to.
The thing is it's about 600 miles from Seattle to Grand Teton so if you were trying to do it during the day you wouldn't of been able to pull it in even with their class A 50,000 watt signal. But then at night it uses a directional antenna to protect WOR and KSPN but WOR is in New York City so I'm unsure how a Seattle station is going to interfere with that. I can't even pull WOR in that good in Michigan at night.
This was just after 7 pm Pacific, before they were broadcasting their night patterns. I should have tried again in a half-hour. The station I
was picking up on 710 was probably KGNC, Amarillo; a Texas Rangers affiliate.
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on September 28, 2021, 11:28:51 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on September 24, 2021, 09:20:12 AM
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on September 18, 2021, 08:37:46 PM
Went camping in Grand Teton National Park last week, because I booked the vacation late and no cabins in Yellowstone were available. I was missing a Seattle Mariners game, and there was no cell coverage or wi-fi here, so I checked to see if KIRO 710 could be heard from here. It couldn't, I got a Rangers-Florida game on that frequency instead, so I tuned around the dial with my car radio in case I had better luck with a network affiliate. From Seattle I had been able to hear Dodger Baseball from their Las Vegas affiliate rather than from the flagship station, so I know it was a possibility. Instead, I heard KOMO on 1000, which was the Mariners flagship station for a few years. Locally, the station isn't strong in North Bend at night, and now I know where that signal goes to.
The thing is it's about 600 miles from Seattle to Grand Teton so if you were trying to do it during the day you wouldn't of been able to pull it in even with their class A 50,000 watt signal. But then at night it uses a directional antenna to protect WOR and KSPN but WOR is in New York City so I'm unsure how a Seattle station is going to interfere with that. I can't even pull WOR in that good in Michigan at night.
This was just after 7 pm Pacific, before they were broadcasting their night patterns. I should have tried again in a half-hour. The station I was picking up on 710 was probably KGNC, Amarillo; a Texas Rangers affiliate.
After a look at the Texas Rangers radio network that is the station you were picking up. But that's strange since Amarillo is further from Grand Teton than Seattle is.
Well, it sometimes happens. I know a good example on the FM band in my area on 99.7, in which I receive RNE Radio 3 from the Calatayud/Inoges transmitter (https://www.google.es/maps/place/Pico+del+Rayo/@41.3705849,-1.5048017,7904m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0xd5bf3ecc072013f:0x8736306011e86aa9!8m2!3d41.367712!4d-1.492732) despite another station being closer and in roughly the same direction (it is a pirate as well). Although I have to admit, sometimes it's hard to tell it apart from another repeater of the same network, this time from the Mont Caro transmitter (https://www.google.es/maps/place/Mont+Caro/@40.8035476,0.3376265,2926m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x12a0ed846063149b:0x6baced1704c09ca8!8m2!3d40.8038574!4d0.3430277) in Southern Catalonia, which is on the channel right below it (on 99.6, not 99.5 as you may think).
Fun fact: these two transmitters are also involved in another strange happening, this time on 98.5. There are stations transmitting on that channel from both places, and I can receive both without interference, simply by pointing the antenna to one or the other.
Bodies of water apparently do improve reception of TV and FM radio stations. I remember reading that a PBS station in Erie, Pa., actually identified as also serving London, Ont. That's a very long distance, but Lake Erie is right in between. Years and years ago, I was on ON 401, and CFNY in Toronto was overtaken by WDOK in Cleveland somewhere around London. That's a long, long way from Cleveland.
Quote from: bandit957 on September 29, 2021, 10:01:46 AM
Bodies of water apparently do improve reception of TV and FM radio stations. I remember reading that a PBS station in Erie, Pa., actually identified as also serving London, Ont. That's a very long distance, but Lake Erie is right in between. Years and years ago, I was on ON 401, and CFNY in Toronto was overtaken by WDOK in Cleveland somewhere around London. That's a long, long way from Cleveland.
I've been able to pull in 99.1 FM CBC1 from Toronto along I-90 in Erie before. So, it's going over both Lake Erie & Lake Ontario there. Also pulled it in when it was still 740AM before it switched over to FM in the same area during the day or night when I was on trips.
Awhile back I was listening to 104.3 and was wondering what station I was listening to. I was in the Tawas City area along Lake Huron and the station I was pulling in was WOMC in Detroit. Call letters stand for Wayne, Oakland & Macomb Counties. This is a pretty big station broadcasting with 190,000 watts of power. The transmitter is on Woodward Heights near the I-75 and I-696 interchange in Ferndale. Tawas City is about 125 miles as the crow flies from the transmitter and there is open water in the Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron in between.
Quote from: Flint1979 on September 29, 2021, 07:22:02 AM
After a look at the Texas Rangers radio network that is the station you were picking up. But that's strange since Amarillo is further from Grand Teton than Seattle is.
It has to do with allowing the station to bounce off the ionosphere. Back when there was actually something worthwhile to listen to on AM, from Seattle I could pick up stations from San Francisco, but not Portland. I could pick up stations from Calgary, but not Vancouver. It turns out, nighttime AM signals bounce off the ionosphere and closer cities are too close for this to happen. Signals are aimed at the horizon, and signals from closer cities will just pass by overhead unheard by me.
Quote from: Flint1979 on September 30, 2021, 08:08:13 AM
Awhile back I was listening to 104.3 and was wondering what station I was listening to. I was in the Tawas City area along Lake Huron and the station I was pulling in was WOMC in Detroit. Call letters stand for Wayne, Oakland & Macomb Counties. This is a pretty big station broadcasting with 190,000 watts of power. The transmitter is on Woodward Heights near the I-75 and I-696 interchange in Ferndale. Tawas City is about 125 miles as the crow flies from the transmitter and there is open water in the Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron in between.
Back when newspapers would list local radio stations, both the Cleveland Plain Dealer & Press would list Detroit/Windsor stations for Cleveland listening.
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on September 30, 2021, 11:25:25 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on September 29, 2021, 07:22:02 AM
After a look at the Texas Rangers radio network that is the station you were picking up. But that's strange since Amarillo is further from Grand Teton than Seattle is.
It has to do with allowing the station to bounce off the ionosphere. Back when there was actually something worthwhile to listen to on AM, from Seattle I could pick up stations from San Francisco, but not Portland. I could pick up stations from Calgary, but not Vancouver. It turns out, nighttime AM signals bounce off the ionosphere and closer cities are too close for this to happen. Signals are aimed at the horizon, and signals from closer cities will just pass by overhead unheard by me.
That's true because it's an obvious reason that WJR has a harder time being heard where I am at than a station like WLW or WBZ or KMOX. For some reason it's hard to pull WSB in Atlanta in but I am in range of that station only being 800 miles away. I've pulled in KOA in Denver I could hear it scrambling in then I heard them say THE 50,000 WATT BLOWTORCH OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN WEST and I was like that's KOA in Denver.