most unexpected or unusual handoffs

[bobdavcav]

Yesterday, some friends and I did a day trip to Levinworth, WA and we decided to come back over Snoqualmie Pass rather than the more direct route over Stevens. I had initially asked to hear KQBG, but we lost that signal in short order, so after several miles on KOHO 101.1, it seemed the car radio wouldn't pick up anything but KXLE, surprised that KPQ-FM wouldn't stop the scan. So, despite my friend's disliking of country music, that's what we listened to until we got to just west of the summit. That's when something interesting happened, and something I totally didn't expect. The country station was slowly fading, but then out of nowhere, we started hearing CHR. Yep, CKZZ/Vancouver, BC, loud and clear like a local. Probably less than half a mile later and a couple more times back and forth with CKZZ mostly on top now, both stations faded into oblivion, so we hit scan on the radio again and came up with a surprisingly strong KXXO/Olympia. We carried that all the way home with only a couple dead spots. So, what are some really unexpected handoffs you know of?

 

[Ai4i]

I have not done this myself, but look at how much of Greenland and Iceland, and Portugal,
plus the edges of Ireland, Spain, and a chunk of Morroco these guys reach.

 

[charlestondxman]

Here on a couple of the few open frequencies I have, there are some weird handoffs. Within a couple of minutes a few months ago, I heard Atlanta (classic rock) and Meridian, MS (country) here in Charleston. The Meridian station maybe faded in for 5-10 seconds in between songs, but it was enough to reveal their ID. That was a 500 mile+ catch, in December.

On 99.1, I've heard Roanoke and Jacksonville, FL on the same day, within about an hour of each other.

 

[bobdavcav]

That sounds more like tropo, which can cause all sorts of weird anomalies. I'm not sure how common it is now, but before KXXO moved, it was common occurrence here in the summer to be able to move the antenna one way and hear Olympia, move it the other way and hear Vancouver, BC. Up there on the pass though when tropo wasn't likely happening, it surprised me how clear CKZZ was.

 

[crainbebo]

Knife edge refraction off mountains! Drive Icicle Road towards the Enchantment trails sometime soon. Tune in 99.9 and listen to how clear KXLY/Spokane is. LOUD, like a local, for miles. Tune in 98.1 and hear static instead of KISC. They can do very weird things.
I was up at Chinook Pass on a hiking trail today. CJSU 'Juice FM' Duncan (165mi but you'd never know it) was loud like a local turning the corner on 89.7. KWWS Walla Walla (165mi) would come in on the next 90-degree turn, then KLCC Eugene OR (210mi)! KWFJ Roy never showed up (low power) neither KMWS Mt. Vernon. So odd!

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Mine was a remarkable coincidence of timing. One night I was driving on the 121 Freeway in Dallas, past the KLIF 570 antenna farm. I could see the towers, and knew I might hear something interesting as I drove through the null. To my astonishment - KLIF went out completely for a split second, during which I heard "WNAX". A split second later, KLIF was back. Sure enough, it was the top of the hour - I snagged a legal ID in the split second I was in the KLIF null!

Another one that was really no coincidence. When my daughter was little, we left her at her favorite babysitter's house. I told the babysitter my daughter liked to listen to Radio Disney on 620 - sometimes to go to sleep. But when the babysitter tried, she said all she heard was talking. I asked if I could try, and I was getting WTMJ! When I got in the car, I discovered that I was in a deep null for KMKI that was about three houses wide. That null was super stable and dependable - during the day KMKI came in fine, but on their nighttime pattern they were GONE, and WTMJ came right in.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

When I saw 'handoffs' in the thread title, I incorrectly figured 'share-time' stations.
Back in NYC, WBNX 1380 and the weaker WAWZ 1380 from NJ shared the frequency. The ethnic-formatted and more frenzied WBNX had the lion's share of the broadcast-day hours. WAWZ was a solemn religious station apparently not too concerned with their audio. Imagine the sonics of a subdued requiem Mass.
As you might expect, if there was any impreciseness in the handoff, the faulty one would be WAWZ. They'd be late, seemingly more often than not. Some Sunday mornings they were late by fifteen minutes. One Sunday they didn't sign on at all!
So in the wee hours, with the nighttime propogation still active, we'd get stations such as WLCY* St Pete, WNRI Woonsocket RI, WOWW Naugatock CT, the very-rare WAMS from Delaware (who sent it all south), WBBX from New Hampshire, and WSYB Rutland Vermont.
In all, I managed to log 22 stations on 1380 in about ten years. This, despite living in a market to where there two local stations titularly licensed. Ridiculous.

* * * * * * *

* Re WLCY : While I was in school in Sarasota in 1972, and driving around in a 1962 Buick one night around 9:00, idly cruising, WLCY was on the car radio. I had driven to some place called Belleair Bluffs or Harbour Bluffs. It was south of Clearwater. And apparently I drove over one of the four known hills in the state of Florida. WLCY, with a null that way, disappeared. And I got a 'KWK St. Louis' ID.
Right in WLCY's home market!

https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WWMI&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

 

[Ai4i]

* Re WLCY :

"Fun Radio one thirty-eight" used some nice PAMS jingles.
Their late sixties overnight guy used the name, "Johnnie Reb"

 

[bobdavcav]

Knife edge refraction off mountains! Drive Icicle Road towards the Enchantment trails sometime soon. Tune in 99.9 and listen to how clear KXLY/Spokane is. LOUD, like a local, for miles. Tune in 98.1 and hear static instead of KISC. They can do very weird things.
I was up at Chinook Pass on a hiking trail today. CJSU 'Juice FM' Duncan (165mi but you'd never know it) was loud like a local turning the corner on 89.7. KWWS Walla Walla (165mi) would come in on the next 90-degree turn, then KLCC Eugene OR (210mi)! KWFJ Roy never showed up (low power) neither KMWS Mt. Vernon. So odd!

I wonder what 99.9 sounds like coming over Stevens? I would guess at some point KISW and KXLY swap in and out. I also wonder about some of the other Seattle/Spokane frequencies like 98.1 or 98.9, or even KXXO and KIIX on 96.1. How far upstream from Levenworth is the Icicle Road bridge over the Wenatchee? I'm not sure I'd ever do it, but it sounds like if I decided to DX while floating the river, I'd get some interesting stuff. As for other signals over there, it seems as if KPQ-FM has some dead spots, as the car radio never stopped on it when we were scanning.

 

[crainbebo]

The bridge isn't too far from Leavenworth. However, as you head west on Icicle Creek Rd (as it enters national forest land) and turn onto the road to Eightmile Creek, KXLY 'Coyote Country' is quite clear. No KISW whatsoever.
I haven't been to the Stevens Pass area itself, but I assume 99.9 would mainly be KISW. I've been around Skykomish and a little east of there, where 99.9 was completely blank. Not much makes it into those big hills, except some Seattle stations and a few from NW WA and Victoria. KJR was probably the strongest in Skykomish.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

The bridge isn't too far from Leavenworth. However, as you head west on Icicle Creek Rd (as it enters national forest land) and turn onto the road to Eightmile Creek, KXLY 'Coyote Country' is quite clear. No KISW whatsoever.
I haven't been to the Stevens Pass area itself, but I assume 99.9 would mainly be KISW. I've been around Skykomish and a little east of there, where 99.9 was completely blank. Not much makes it into those big hills, except some Seattle stations and a few from NW WA and Victoria. KJR was probably the strongest in Skykomish.

You can get some rather rapid swaps going over the mountains in LA and SF. One side of the mountain - one station, other side, something else. Over flat terrain, the strangest one is 101.1 in the North parts of Austin. From oldies San Antonio to classical from Dallas to Spanish language from Houston and back again as you drive. Basically unlistenable unless you like all three formats and have a short attention span.

 

[Sonic37]

I remember seeing a post from a while back about a certain area of Sea Girt, NJ or somewhere around that area. Some of the NYC stations disappear and Baltimore and coastal Maryland stations take over.

 

[Schlep82]

On My Florence, KY bandscan. I received 97.9 WNCI from Columbus, OH. I really didn't expect that station to be there on My new Silver Sony ICF-SW7600GR. Sometimes that station even tries to get all the way to Cincinnati as a weak station. But WNCI can be in Kenwood, OH in some mornings. The reason why that WNCI is popping up and then quit sometimes in some of the areas of Cincinnati is the Watts of the station. 175KW is pretty good for a radio station.

 

[cyberdad]

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any really good ones, so at least for now, I'll go up with the best one I can think of at the moment....

Business trips to Minnesota in the 80s and 90s. 1400 AM contained two stations that I liked. KLBB from Saint Paul and WBIZ from Eau Claire, WI....about 85 miles apart on I-94. Ground conductivity in the area was not very good so, each station faded rather quickly. The mixing zone only lasted for about ten minutes before one station would be completely overtaken by the other. WBIZ had the slightly better signal for whatever reason. Possibly because KLBB was in a mid-city urban location. Although, OTOH, WBIZ had a really short tower. Whatever, the convergence was a little west of the midpoint of the drive.

 

[ftballfan]

Hearing five different 104.5's in a short period of time in Manistee, MI about a month ago:
WAXX Eau Claire, WI
WILZ Saginaw, MI
WSNX Muskegon, MI
WXER Plymouth, WI
WZTC Traverse City, MI

On Sunday in Manistee, I had 97.7 WQDC mixing with (and overtaking at points) three mile local WMLQ. Years ago, I also remember 101.5 WJNR overtaking WMTE also in Manistee.

 

[Ai4i]

I stopped at a traffic control device in downtown Miami
with more than a city grade signal from WMIV-LP on channel 300,
A skyscraper south of me but north of the station blocks it
and reflects a full quieting signal from WEAT in West Palm Beach on the same channel.
BTW...because of buildings in the area,
I hear noise on the frequency throughout southern Miami Beach,
but WMIV-LP becomes listenable eight miles farther north in Bal Harbor.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Not really a hand-off, but when I put a rotator on my antenna in Plano, TX, I could get five different stations on 92.9, depending on direction:

KBEZ Tulsa. OK
KTKC Springhill, LA
KKBQ Houston, TX
KRMX Waco, TX
KNIN Wichita Falls, TX

This was a decade ago. Translators have come and gone on 92.9 since then which may make this impossible now.

 

[cyberdad]

Can't top Bruce's post, but expanding this to TV..... In the house where I lived in the late '70s (about two miles from where I am now)....I could get more than one TV stations on multiple VHF channels via the rotor on my rooftop antenna...

3: WISC-TV (Madison, WI) and WKZO (Kalamazoo, MI). This was the most reliable pair
4: WTMJ-TV (Milwaukee) and WHBF-TV (Rock Island, IL). Required tropo for WHBF. (I worked at WHBF AM/FM/TV for nearly four years)
6: WITI-TV (Milwaukee) and WOC-TV (Davenport, IA). Required tropo for WOC.
8: WQAD-TV (Moline, IL) and WOOD-TV (Grand Rapids, MI) About 40% reliable.
13: WREX-TV (Rockford, IL) and WZZM-TV (Grand Rapids, MI) Required strong tropo for WZZM.

 

[gar hi]

I remember many years ago traveling up and down the New Jersey Turnpike, there was a station from New York and also from Philadelphia on the same frequency of 100.3 FM.

Those two locations are quite close to be sharing the same frequency.

The switch from one to the other was fairly quick.

The stations are actually from Newark, NJ and Media, Pa which is still a close distance compared to the average distance separation for FM stations sharing the same frequency.

 

[bobdavcav]

That's actually a well-documented and not that unusual handoff, though it's quite unusual to see stations that close together. Though it's not as well documented, I would think something similar happens with WJBR and WBAI.