Maine & New Hampshire stations received in Massachusetts

[Carltheradioguy]

Ever notice how well certain Northern New England stations do on Cape Cod? Is there an explanation for that? Listening to 970 WZAN out of portland pretty much the whole way through the Cape until my destination and there was a little static here and there but it was certainly listenable. Other signals were coming in well too.

 

[davideduardo]

Ever notice how well certain Northern New England stations do on Cape Cod? Is there an explanation for that? Listening to 970 WZAN out of portland pretty much the whole way through the Cape until my destination and there was a little static here and there but it was certainly listenable. Other signals were coming in well too.

The Cape is surrounded by water, and salt water is a far better conductor of AM radio signals than even the best land. So you can almost think of Portland as being, conductivity wise, much, much closer than it is on a map. Same for other New England signals that transmit from near the coast. This applies to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, too, although they are farther away and there are not many AMs left in the Maritimes.

 

[KML0224]

Very true! WBZ-AM 1030 of Boston does quite well when I'm in Portland during the day. Also, the one lone time I was in Newport, RI (2004), WCBS-AM 880 of New York City was quite strong!

 

[CTListener]

The original poster mentioned New Hampshire, whose AMs don't benefit from the salt water effect nearly as much as Maine's do, since New Hampshire has only a tiny patch of coastline. When I lived in the Boston area, in a North Shore suburb, WHEB Portsmouth (which was in the vanguard of abandoning AM decades ago) was the only NH AM that put in much of a signal. The inland Nashua and Manchester AMs weren't nearly as easy a catch. In fact, they were much weaker than Portland's WGAN or the strong country station from the Maritimes whose call I can't recall.

 

[Carltheradioguy]

Yes! 660 and 880 also come in well on the Cape!

 

[Carltheradioguy]

I'm sure if I stayed longer i'd get some canadian signals. I was also talking about FM as well. Both AM and FM offer crazy Dxing opportunities for people on the Cape.

 

[Carltheradioguy]

Very true! WBZ-AM 1030 of Boston does quite well when I'm in Portland during the day. Also, the one lone time I was in Newport, RI (2004), WCBS-AM 880 of New York City was quite strong!

I also had the same experience with 1030 in Maine and on the Cape. Especially on the Cape it comes in just about like a local.

 

[Carltheradioguy]

The original poster mentioned New Hampshire, whose AMs don't benefit from the salt water effect nearly as much as Maine's do, since New Hampshire has only a tiny patch of coastline. When I lived in the Boston area, in a North Shore suburb, WHEB Portsmouth (which was in the vanguard of abandoning AM decades ago) was the only NH AM that put in much of a signal. The inland Nashua and Manchester AMs weren't nearly as easy a catch. In fact, they were much weaker than Portland's WGAN or the strong country station from the Maritimes whose call I can't recall.

That is odd to say the least. Maybe the map in my head is thinking incorrectly but I remember last year or 2015 (one of the recent years) and I was driving on 495 between Lowell and NH border driving toward maine and I was getting all the NH signals 95% perfect. WHOM, WGIR, WZID etc and the AM ones as well. That's interesting how you struggled with NH signals.

 

[Kemosabe]

Also, the one lone time I was in Newport, RI (2004), WCBS-AM 880 of New York City was quite strong!

I recall receiving a strong signal (on my car radio) from 77 WABC in the late '70s. Has that changed?

Yes! 660 and 880 also come in well on the Cape! … I also had the same experience with 1030 in Maine and on the Cape. Especially on the Cape it comes in just about like a local.

That's interesting. I'd heard that, owing to its directional signal, WBZ could not be heard so clearly on the Cape.

 

[Carltheradioguy]

I recall receiving a strong signal (on my car radio) from 77 WABC in the late '70s. Has that changed?



That's interesting. I'd heard that, owing to its directional signal, WBZ could not be heard so clearly on the Cape.

Yes! For me, 1030 came in almost like a local on the cape along with 590 and 1 or 2 others.

 

[CTListener]

That is odd to say the least. Maybe the map in my head is thinking incorrectly but I remember last year or 2015 (one of the recent years) and I was driving on 495 between Lowell and NH border driving toward maine and I was getting all the NH signals 95% perfect. WHOM, WGIR, WZID etc and the AM ones as well. That's interesting how you struggled with NH signals.

My listening location was less than a mile from the ocean, in Swampscott. The New Hampshire AMs did a lot better where you were, which, after all, was a good 25-30 miles closer to New Hampshire. But that salt-water propagation wasn't a factor that far inland, so you wouldn't have been getting the coastal Maine/Maritimes AMs as strongly as I was.

It wasn't that I couldn't hear WGIR. It's just that WGAN put in a stronger signal at my location.

 

[Carltheradioguy]

My listening location was less than a mile from the ocean, in Swampscott. The New Hampshire AMs did a lot better where you were, which, after all, was a good 25-30 miles closer to New Hampshire. But that salt-water propagation wasn't a factor that far inland, so you wouldn't have been getting the coastal Maine/Maritimes AMs as strongly as I was.

It wasn't that I couldn't hear WGIR. It's just that WGAN put in a stronger signal at my location.

Okay, that makes sense then haha. You certainly receive the coastal AMs better in that location. Being a foreigner to that area in my head I were thinking they weren't that far apart. Your spot is probably quite interesting when it comes to Dxing, that's for darn sure.

 

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

The inland Nashua and Manchester AMs weren't nearly as easy a catch. In fact, they were much weaker than Portland's WGAN or the strong country station from the Maritimes whose call I can't recall.

Ya mean the former "AM 700, CHSJ, St. John"?

 

[Gregg.]

I remember when 700 CHSJ St. John, was Oldies and came in quite well all day along the Maine Coast. That's St. John in New Brunswick. I never heard any AM stations from St. John's, Newfoundland. "Apostrophe S" is important when referring to Maritime Canada cities.

While it was still on the air, 1070 CBA Moncton NB was also fairly common at night, a 50,000 watt, non-directional CBC station. Both CHSJ and CBA have moved to FM,

I was hoping to pick up a "V" station from St. John's. That city still has three stations whose call letters start with V, which date from when Newfoundland was not part of Canada. But Newfoundland is too far away.

 

[davideduardo]

I remember when 700 CHSJ St. John, was Oldies and came in quite well all day along the Maine Coast. That's St. John in New Brunswick. I never heard any AM stations from St. John's, Newfoundland. "Apostrophe S" is important when referring to Maritime Canada cities.

That reminds me (off-topic comment coming!) that I met the owner of one of the St John AMs at an AIR* convention in 1967. He also owned a resort in the Barbados. Someone had told him about the magic of Beverage antennas (1000' foot and over longwires terminated in a resistance to make them directional) and he had an array of them placed on an unused part of his Barbados property, aimed right at St John. He was able to hear his own station quite well at times, and found it amusing to call and talk about what he had heard on the air, to the amazement of the staff.

* Asociación Interamericana de Radiodifusión / Interamerican Broadcasters Association

 

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

I never heard any AM stations from St. John's, Newfoundland. "Apostrophe S" is important when referring to Maritime Canada cities.
....
I was hoping to pick up a "V" station from St. John's. That city still has three stations whose call letters start with V, which date from when Newfoundland was not part of Canada. But Newfoundland is too far away.

I don't know what it was, but there was a particular spot, at a particular window at the PO at South Station, where 7-40 CHCM Marystown NL used to come in on a regular basis, about like WSB, strength-wise

 

[blackgold]

I used to get CHSJ out of St. John years ago before WLW would squelch it out at night. I also used to enjoy listening to CKLM in Laval, Quebec, a French radio station with a top 40 format, like WRKO or WMEX.

 

[robotique]

I remember when 700 CHSJ St. John, was Oldies and came in quite well all day along the Maine Coast. That's St. John in New Brunswick. I never heard any AM stations from St. John's, Newfoundland. "Apostrophe S" is important when referring to Maritime Canada cities.

While it was still on the air, 1070 CBA Moncton NB was also fairly common at night, a 50,000 watt, non-directional CBC station. Both CHSJ and CBA have moved to FM,

I was hoping to pick up a "V" station from St. John's. That city still has three stations whose call letters start with V, which date from when Newfoundland was not part of Canada. But Newfoundland is too far away.

I always wondered what was up with the "v" stations.... interesting factoid. Thanks!

 

[spt87]

On the cape 1030 signal strength depends a lot on where you are. From about Duxbury (not part of the cape but relevant to this) down into Sandwich it looses strength getting worse the further south you go. Mostly not unlistenable but, for example, daytime HD lock becomes erratic (I'm just using HD as a way to judge daytime signal strength not trying to start a debate on its merits - no HD at night on WBZ) and analog gets noisy. As you drive route 6 from Sandwich toward Barnstable it gets better and HD more reliable. At night, for some reason, 1030 is much weaker on cape - WINS will normally be a lot stronger for example and frequently HD locks. I'm thinking some sky wave/ground wave self cancelation might be going on for WBZ. At home (Sandwich) I have two home made loop antennas (really they are square made out of PVC pipe) - a 4x4 and a 2x2. The 4x4 aimed toward Boston works well during he day but it is tough to get HD lock from my location. At night the 2x2 loop works better for some reason but generally I've just started using the iHeart radio app instead especially at night. Generally I can get HD better in the car than from the house - could be just a variation in the tuners I have. Now that Xfinity has iHeart app built into the cable box it is pretty convenient to use with my setup at home and with the app on my phone in the car.

In general WBZ has some weak areas on the south shore and south coast due to their pattern which makes them a fringe type signal down there. Even when I lived near Foxborough, although it was generally a very good signal, in the very early morning like clock work - 4 to 5 am'ish - their signal would get a bit unstable (again I think due to groundwave/skywave cancelation). Back in that era they were in CQUAM stereo and that would manifest as platform motion with the receiver dropping into mono at times (Denon TU-680NAB). Whose up at 4am to notice? Had twin babies and I had the night shift caring for them. There is NOTHING on TV worth watching in the middle of the night - but Steve Leveille was there and I listened to pretty much the entire show every night when they were in that stage.

 

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

On the cape 1030 signal strength depends a lot on where you are. From about Duxbury (not part of the cape but relevant to this) down into Sandwich it looses strength getting worse the further south you go. Mostly not unlistenable but, for example, daytime HD lock becomes erratic (I'm just using HD as a way to judge daytime signal strength...

I donʼt know if they are just doing one of their periodic software updates and waiting for a part, or what, but WBZ's IBOC has been totally off for a good 2 weeks now!