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How far do your local radio stations go?

Started by CapeCodder, September 09, 2017, 09:40:14 AM

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Roadgeekteen

Quote from: JMoses24 on September 13, 2017, 11:51:10 PM
A lot of Cincy stations start fading around Sparta and Dry Ridge, KY on I-71 and 75 in KY respectively; about 30-40 miles to the north of downtown on those interstates; and about halfway into Ripley County going west in Indiana. I don't know about east, but I'm guessing roughly about the US 62/68 corridors.
30- 40 miles is short for fm radio.
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Michael

I normally listen to 95.1 WAIO out of Rochester, and I start to lose it on the east side of Camillus just before the hill heading into Fairmount, which is 58.9 miles away.  Coming into Syracuse from the east side, my friend's car starts picking it up (mostly static with a few words mixed in) just east of exit 34A on the Thruway, which is 70.6 miles away.  There's a spot on NY 5 near Sherrill where my friend gets perfect reception for a second or two, and that's 92 miles away!

My personal record so far was back in July.  While waiting for my friend in the Taco Bell/Long John Silvers parking lot in Oneida, I got perfect reception from 100.1 CHCQ from Canada in my car.  The transmitter is 124.6 miles away!  I'd guess having Lake Ontario between me and the transmitter helped.

An odd quirk about FM reception in Auburn is that Rochester stations come in better than Syracuse ones, even though I'm closer to Syracuse.

JMoses24

#52
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on September 22, 2017, 11:05:28 PM
Quote from: JMoses24 on September 13, 2017, 11:51:10 PM
A lot of Cincy stations start fading around Sparta and Dry Ridge, KY on I-71 and 75 in KY respectively; about 30-40 miles to the north of downtown on those interstates; and about halfway into Ripley County going west in Indiana. I don't know about east, but I'm guessing roughly about the US 62/68 corridors.
30- 40 miles is short for fm radio.

It is, however the Dayton and Cincinnati markets are short spaced and there are quite a few stations that are close enough together frequency-wise that they could interfere with one another.

JMoses24

Quote from: Michael on September 23, 2017, 02:20:58 PM
I normally listen to 95.1 WAIO out of Rochester, and I start to lose it on the east side of Camillus just before the hill heading into Fairmount, which is 58.9 miles away.  Coming into Syracuse from the east side, my friend's car starts picking it up (mostly static with a few words mixed in) just east of exit 34A on the Thruway, which is 70.6 miles away.  There's a spot on NY 5 near Sherrill where my friend gets perfect reception for a second or two, and that's 92 miles away!

My personal record so far was back in July.  While waiting for my friend in the Taco Bell/Long John Silvers parking lot in Oneida, I got perfect reception from 100.1 CHCQ from Canada in my car.  The transmitter is 124.6 miles away!  I'd guess having Lake Ontario between me and the transmitter helped.

An odd quirk about FM reception in Auburn is that Rochester stations come in better than Syracuse ones, even though I'm closer to Syracuse.

You probably had some good DX'ing conditions the day you got that Canadian station.

Roadgeekteen

Quote from: JMoses24 on September 24, 2017, 03:57:37 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on September 22, 2017, 11:05:28 PM
Quote from: JMoses24 on September 13, 2017, 11:51:10 PM
A lot of Cincy stations start fading around Sparta and Dry Ridge, KY on I-71 and 75 in KY respectively; about 30-40 miles to the north of downtown on those interstates; and about halfway into Ripley County going west in Indiana. I don't know about east, but I'm guessing roughly about the US 62/68 corridors.
30- 40 miles is short for fm radio.

It is, however the Dayton and Cincinnati markets are short spaced and there are quite a few stations that are close enough together frequency-wise that they could interfere with one another.
Then use different frequencies.
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Current Interstate map I am making:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1PEDVyNb1skhnkPkgXi8JMaaudM2zI-Y&ll=29.05778059819179%2C-82.48856825&z=5

Brandon

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on September 25, 2017, 03:39:18 PM
Quote from: JMoses24 on September 24, 2017, 03:57:37 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on September 22, 2017, 11:05:28 PM
Quote from: JMoses24 on September 13, 2017, 11:51:10 PM
A lot of Cincy stations start fading around Sparta and Dry Ridge, KY on I-71 and 75 in KY respectively; about 30-40 miles to the north of downtown on those interstates; and about halfway into Ripley County going west in Indiana. I don't know about east, but I'm guessing roughly about the US 62/68 corridors.
30- 40 miles is short for fm radio.

It is, however the Dayton and Cincinnati markets are short spaced and there are quite a few stations that are close enough together frequency-wise that they could interfere with one another.

Then use different frequencies.

They probably do.  FM is very dependent on how powerful (wattage) the station is, and how good the line-of-sight toward the horizon is.  For example, around Chicago, the stations start fading out as follows:

East: Benton Harbor/St. Joseph, Michigan.
North: Racine, Wisconsin.
West: Rochelle or Dixon, Illinois (depends on station antenna height and strength).
South: Dwight and Ashkum, Illinois.

Part of this is that many of the Chicago FM stations have their antennae from the tallest building in the US, the Sears Tower (that "spire" on the World Trade Center is a mere antenna), and thus can have a rather large line-of-sight toward the horizon.
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Flint1979

I love radio dxing. One of the stations I most want to know their range is WJR in Detroit. I've heard that station can be picked up in 38 states and half of Canada. I've tried to outride the signal before but have come up short each time I tried. In the middle of the night I love to see what distant stations I can pick up. Some of the louder ones in my area are WBZ in Boston, WCBS in New York, KMOX in St. Louis, WSB in Atlanta, WLW in Cincinnati, WHAS in Louisville, WABC in New York, WOR in New York, WFAN in New York, WGN in Chicago, WSCR in Chicago, WLS in Chicago, WBBM in Chicago, KDKA in Pittsburgh, WTAM in Cleveland. I left out WJR in Detroit since I can pick that station up 24 hours a day but I can also pick up WTAM and Chicago's stations 24 hours a day just not as clear during the day. WJR and WTAM come in better than Chicago's stations since their transmitters are closer.

ftballfan

Quote from: JMoses24 on September 24, 2017, 03:57:37 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on September 22, 2017, 11:05:28 PM
Quote from: JMoses24 on September 13, 2017, 11:51:10 PM
A lot of Cincy stations start fading around Sparta and Dry Ridge, KY on I-71 and 75 in KY respectively; about 30-40 miles to the north of downtown on those interstates; and about halfway into Ripley County going west in Indiana. I don't know about east, but I'm guessing roughly about the US 62/68 corridors.
30- 40 miles is short for fm radio.

It is, however the Dayton and Cincinnati markets are short spaced and there are quite a few stations that are close enough together frequency-wise that they could interfere with one another.
A few months ago, I was able to carry 105.9 from Middletown (between Cincinnati and Dayton) as far north as Bellefontaine.

ftballfan

Quote from: dvferyance on September 11, 2017, 11:54:10 PM
Generally my local FM stations go about as far north as Sheboygan maybe a little farther. Far south as southern Lake county perhaps far northern Cook county and about far west as Madison. WTMJ the strongest AM in the market I have picked up as far as Lebonon IN, Lincoln IL and Coralville IA. Even as far east as the Indiana Ohio state line.

WTMJ is insanely strong along the eastern shoreline of Lake Michigan. Also, some Milwaukee FM's make it routinely to parts of Michigan (namely areas from about Whitehall to Manistee; 93.3 WLDB, 96.5 WKLH, 99.1 WMYX, 103.7 WXSS, 106.1 WMIL, and 107.7 WVCY are the strongest ones)

Henry

I've gotten some of the best Seattle stations as far north as Bellingham (and, on rare occasions, Vancouver). To the east, it would be Ellensburg, and to the south, Portland.
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Flint1979

Last night I was trying to DX a lot of stations. WJR wasn't coming in the best at first for some reason and I only live 97 miles from their transmitter but then I switched to FM and was pulling WCSX and WKQI in so I switched back to AM and WJR was coming in better to the point where I could hear the station again. WHAS was coming in pretty strong and usually for some reason WLW comes in strong no matter what I'm not sure if that's because they have a frequency at 700AM or what. I didn't try any of the upper channels like WTAM, KMOX or KDKA though.

bandit957

Are there certain places that just always have unusually long FM radio reception? Back in 1996, I went on a roadtrip out west, and we were on I-10 in Texas - maybe somewhere around Sonora or Ozona. We picked up some FM stations from Kentucky and Minnesota. I remember WHOP-FM and WJJY-FM.

Someone else on a radio forum also said that this area always has weird reception like this.

Why?
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

jakeroot

I've been told that Seattle's KOMO AM 1000 can be heard quite a long ways south and east from here. It broadcasts from Oakville, WA. Only at night is its range that impressive, of course.

Quote from: Henry on July 12, 2018, 10:21:14 AM
I've gotten some of the best Seattle stations as far north as Bellingham (and, on rare occasions, Vancouver). To the east, it would be Ellensburg, and to the south, Portland.

Bellingham is quite a cool area. You get all of Vancouver's stations, and quite a lot of Seattle stations. Best of both worlds.

rickmastfan67

#63
Quote from: 7/8 on September 09, 2017, 10:49:02 AM
My granddad likes AM 740 based out of Toronto, and apparently it has a very large range.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFZM

QuoteCFZM is perhaps the only remaining adult standards-formatted station in North America that broadcasts a 50,000-watt clear channel signal. The station's nighttime signal blankets most of the eastern half of North America—including three-fourths of Canada and just over half of the United States. It can reach as far west as Minneapolis and Winnipeg, and as far south as New Orleans.

CFZM's daytime signal can be heard as far north as Georgian Bay; as far south as Youngstown, Ohio; as far east as eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire including Nashua, Lawrence and Portsmouth; and as far west as the Michigan Thumb.

I miss 740 being CBC Radio 1 out of Toronto.  Missed picking it up in the middle of the night in the Pittsburgh area.  As for it's replacement, 99.1 FM, if I'm lucky, I can start picking it up just outside of Erie on I-90 heading towards NY.

As for local PGH stations, my record was once picking up KDKA-1020 AM all the way down in Columbia, SC just south of I-26 one late night with my dad on a trip.  Wasn't crystal clear, but the static wasn't too bad, so I could understand everything they were saying.

Flint1979

Another really loud FM station in my area is WUPS 98.5. The city of license is Harrison and the transmitter is in Houghton Lake 100 miles from my house and I can pull it in like it's right here in Saginaw. The station has a 100,000 watt transmitter and I've listened to that station all the way from Saginaw to the Mackinac Bridge before.

Flint1979

What is the reach of WJR? I'm really interested in knowing the range of that signal. If anyone can pick up WJR just reply with your location.

ce929wax

I have a crappy radio with a string antenna in my basement, so I don't get much.  Grand Rapids is a no-go on the radio and even some of the Kzoo stations are staticky.   I don't know if reception will improve when I move above ground or not.

In the car, I can pull in most of the Grand Rapids stations and I usually lose Kalamazoo stations within 50 or so miles in each direction.  I have heard that WRKR can be heard in NW Ohio, but I haven't tested that theory.

Flint1979

Quote from: ce929wax on July 13, 2018, 07:01:29 PM
I have a crappy radio with a string antenna in my basement, so I don't get much.  Grand Rapids is a no-go on the radio and even some of the Kzoo stations are staticky.   I don't know if reception will improve when I move above ground or not.

In the car, I can pull in most of the Grand Rapids stations and I usually lose Kalamazoo stations within 50 or so miles in each direction.  I have heard that WRKR can be heard in NW Ohio, but I haven't tested that theory.
For me I mostly listen to the Classic Rock stations like WMMQ in Lansing, WRKR in Kalamazoo, WCSX in Detroit, WILZ in Saginaw, WRSR in Flint. There are some blowtorches on FM like WUPS in Houghton Lake I can pick that up quite a bit, I can pick up some Lansing stations but with static at times and sometimes they come in clear it depends, Flint/Tri-Cities I can get every station except maybe some Flint station that has low power. Detroit I can pull in WKQI, WCSX and WRIF at times but can't seem to pull in WXYT FM or AM and that's 97.1 The Ticket that'd be a nice station to be able to pull in. I usually lose WILZ fairly quickly since it's not a real strong signal and the same for WRSR so I switch back and forth between those two depending on where I'm at. WCSX I'll usually lose that in the Flint area but by then I'm well enough in WRSR's range to switch to that while I'm still in Oakland County. WRKR I haven't been able to figure out where I pickup or lose that station because I usually switch to 97.1 The Drive in Chicago which I can pull in with static around the Paw Paw area, the static clears by the time I get between Benton Harbor and New Buffalo.  I know where the transmitters are for each one of these stations and am pretty familiar with how many watts each station does too. WUPS is the biggest one I've found yet, I've listened to that station from Saginaw to the Mighty Mac, it's 100,000 watts and the transmitter is in Houghton Lake.

ce929wax

I also know that WBCT (B-93) out of GR has a huge tower as well.  I don't listen to the station much these days because I don't like newer country music, but back in the day when I would drive in from Texas I would start getting B-93 with static around Michigan City.  Going out on I-69, I would lose B-93 around Angola, IN.  I haven't ever gone far enough east on I-94 to lose it, but I would imagine that comes in at least a B-grade contour in Lansing, maybe even at the edge of city grade.  If I had to guess, I would guess that B-93 would start fading east on 94 east of Jackson.

Back when I had a car, I would get 94.1 The Duke (I believe the call letters were WWDK, but I am not 100% sure on that) here on the northeast side of Kalamazoo where I live, but would lose it when I went down the hill into the city.  I also got a Magic (?) 106.1 which is comparable to The Bear in Ft. Wayne (I am not sure of 106.1 call letters) that I am assuming is somewhere out of the Lansing/Jackson area until I went down the hill into the city.

Sctvhound

Quote from: Flint1979 on July 12, 2018, 11:36:14 PM
What is the reach of WJR? I'm really interested in knowing the range of that signal. If anyone can pick up WJR just reply with your location.

WJR daytime can be heard as far as the OH/WV line on the Ohio River around Parkersburg. Nighttime can be heard over most of the eastern half of the US.

Flint1979

Quote from: ce929wax on July 13, 2018, 11:47:09 PM
I also know that WBCT (B-93) out of GR has a huge tower as well.  I don't listen to the station much these days because I don't like newer country music, but back in the day when I would drive in from Texas I would start getting B-93 with static around Michigan City.  Going out on I-69, I would lose B-93 around Angola, IN.  I haven't ever gone far enough east on I-94 to lose it, but I would imagine that comes in at least a B-grade contour in Lansing, maybe even at the edge of city grade.  If I had to guess, I would guess that B-93 would start fading east on 94 east of Jackson.

Back when I had a car, I would get 94.1 The Duke (I believe the call letters were WWDK, but I am not 100% sure on that) here on the northeast side of Kalamazoo where I live, but would lose it when I went down the hill into the city.  I also got a Magic (?) 106.1 which is comparable to The Bear in Ft. Wayne (I am not sure of 106.1 call letters) that I am assuming is somewhere out of the Lansing/Jackson area until I went down the hill into the city.
WBCT is very strong. I think the range of that station is from about the Howell area to across the lake into the Milwaukee area and from about Big Rapids to about Rome City, Indiana. Their transmitter is about halfway between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo in the Yankee Springs area on the north side of Gun Lake. I don't really listen to that station enough though since I don't care to listen to country music. I've listened to The Bear when I've been in the Fort Wayne area I can usually pick that station up well before I get to Fort Wayne though.

106.1 is Q106 out of Lansing, it's transmitter is south of Eaton Rapids in the Onondaga area. I've listened to that station a lot, their call letters are WJXQ and I think at the top of the hour they announce Lansing-Jackson for the city. That's a solid station too I use to listen to that over WMMQ 94.9 out of Lansing but now I usually will use 106.1 in the Jackson area and 94.9 in the Lansing area.

ce929wax

Yes, I got 98.9 The Bear in Wapakoneta, Ohio on US 33 in my car radio and lost it just south of Coldwater.

Flint1979

Back in the day when WJR had it's legendary staff such as J.P. McCarthy, Jimmy Launce, Warren Pierce, Frank Beckmann, Mike Wharf, Joel Alexander, Gene Fogel, Dan Streeter, John McMurray. Some of the mentioned are still with the station and some have passed away and some I forgot to mention because really there are too many people that made WJR a great station. I surely miss those voices especially ones like J.P. McCarthy that guy was my idol growing up and being able to pull WJR in every morning listening to Dan Streeter and Gene Fogel with the news and then J.P.'s show would come on and I'd love listening to his voice it was one of a kind. At that hour of the morning WJR's reach was probably 800-1,000 miles from it's transmitter in Riverview, one of the most beautiful transmitter buildings I have ever seen.

At one time WJR was the king of sports in Detroit. Ernie Harwell's voice coming across that 50,000 watt signal along with Paul Carey, Ray Lane and George Kell and it was the home of the University of Michigan sports not Michigan State like it is today. Another legendary voice on the J.P. McCarthy Show was Fat Bob Taylor who passed away around the same time J.P. did, he was the singing plumber from Ann Arbor as well as Lugi from the car wash and other voices it was a blast and J.P. did other voices as well like the Answer Man and What's bothering you? and other stuff. I use to love hearing him say, "we'll get this turkey on the road in a minute" before going to his first commercial break.

I love the Fisher Building and have been in WJR's studios before it's a neat place and I was always into radio broadcasting so it was neat to see the studios. WJR has one of my favorite top of the hour jingles, "From the golden tower of the Fisher Building, this is the great voice of the Great Lakes, 760, W-J-R Detroit." I have another favorite top of the hour jingle from WBZ in Boston, "While your driving your car, we're driving 50,000 watts of power, news all day, every day on newsradio 1030 WBZ Boston."

Flint1979

Quote from: ce929wax on July 14, 2018, 12:49:39 AM
Yes, I got 98.9 The Bear in Wapakoneta, Ohio on US 33 in my car radio and lost it just south of Coldwater.
They say they have a 50,000 watt FM signal I know that won't carry as far as 50,000 watts on AM but their transmitter is in Madison Township between US-30 and US-27 about 8 miles from the Ohio border so I tried getting it in Lima, Ohio and got pretty good reception on it there.

briantroutman

Quote from: bandit957 on July 12, 2018, 10:32:34 PM
Are there certain places that just always have unusually long FM radio reception? Back in 1996, I went on a roadtrip out west, and we were on I-10 in Texas - maybe somewhere around Sonora or Ozona. We picked up some FM stations from Kentucky and Minnesota. I remember WHOP-FM and WJJY-FM.

Someone else on a radio forum also said that this area always has weird reception like this.

Why?

FM radio reception is based (more or less) on having a clear line-of-sight between the transmitter and receiver. So just as there are certain vantage points where a city skyline can be glimpsed from many miles away, I'd expect there are pockets where a combination of topography and the strength of the transmitter make it possible to receive the signal despite oceans of dead zone between the receiver and the transmitter.



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