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DX'ing?

Started by TravelingBethelite, March 27, 2020, 12:45:19 PM

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nexus73

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
US 101 is THE backbone of the Pacific coast from Bandon OR to Willits CA.  Industry, tourism and local traffic would be gone or severely crippled without it being in functioning condition in BOTH states.


ftballfan

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.

bandit957

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.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

Flint1979

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.

CNGL-Leudimin

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.
Supporter of the construction of several running gags, including I-366 with a speed limit of 85 mph (137 km/h) and the Hypotenuse.

Please note that I may mention "invalid" FM channels, i.e. ending in an even number or down to 87.5. These are valid in Europe.

Route66Fan

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.

Max Rockatansky

Amusingly in the military world DXing refers to downing a bunch of Dexamorphone to mask withdrawal symptoms.

DTComposer

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.

CNGL-Leudimin

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.
Supporter of the construction of several running gags, including I-366 with a speed limit of 85 mph (137 km/h) and the Hypotenuse.

Please note that I may mention "invalid" FM channels, i.e. ending in an even number or down to 87.5. These are valid in Europe.

MCRoads

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.
I build roads on Minecraft. Like, really good roads.
Interstates traveled:
4/5/10*/11**/12**/15/25*/29*/35(E/W[TX])/40*/44**/49(LA**)/55*/64**/65/66*/70°/71*76(PA*,CO*)/78*°/80*/95°/99(PA**,NY**)

*/** indicates a terminus/termini being traveled
° Indicates a gap (I.E Breezwood, PA.)

more room plz

zachary_amaryllis

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.
clinched:
I-64, I-80, I-76 (west), *64s in hampton roads, 225,270,180 (co, wy)

Flint1979

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.

bandit957

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?
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

CNGL-Leudimin

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.
Supporter of the construction of several running gags, including I-366 with a speed limit of 85 mph (137 km/h) and the Hypotenuse.

Please note that I may mention "invalid" FM channels, i.e. ending in an even number or down to 87.5. These are valid in Europe.

rickmastfan67

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.

Dirt Roads

#40
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.

Flint1979

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.

ErmineNotyours

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.

CNGL-Leudimin

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. 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).
Supporter of the construction of several running gags, including I-366 with a speed limit of 85 mph (137 km/h) and the Hypotenuse.

Please note that I may mention "invalid" FM channels, i.e. ending in an even number or down to 87.5. These are valid in Europe.

abefroman329

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"

Flint1979

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.

ErmineNotyours

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.

Flint1979

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.

CNGL-Leudimin

#48
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 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 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.
Supporter of the construction of several running gags, including I-366 with a speed limit of 85 mph (137 km/h) and the Hypotenuse.

Please note that I may mention "invalid" FM channels, i.e. ending in an even number or down to 87.5. These are valid in Europe.

bandit957

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.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool



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