DX'ing?

[rickmastfan67]

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.

[Flint1979]

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.

[ErmineNotyours]

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.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

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.

[Flint1979]

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.