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Best reception areas for scans?

K

ksradiogeek

I’ve been doing the bandscan thing for a bit, and will be making my first ever voyage to Southern California this summer for a few days. I’ll be bringing my portable pocket Sangean radio (and maybe my 10+ year old Grundig...not sure on that one yet) to do some scans in/around LA and San Diego.

My question is this: based off of your experiences, where are the best/highly recommended spots in the City (and elsewhere) to get strong AM/FM signal reception (not just from stations on Mt. Wilson, but other suburban spots and a decent amount of translators/LPFMs as well), without a lot of interference/potential shadow? (I tend to do Downtown/central city scans as well, so if there’s any recommendations there as well, that would be greatly appreciated.) Also, since I’ll be in SD, where are the best spots for reception there as well? (I’ll be using public transit primarily for this trip, so won’t have access to a car.) I don’t think I’ll have time to get out to the IE (since I’ve noticed some co-channel signals there and in the basin are heavily hemmed in), but I am planning on doing some scans traveling through the OC to try and log every FM there.
 
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Try go up to Griffin Park Observatory. You can picked up many stations around the metro area. If you rely on public transportation to get up there. I think there's a shuttle bus that goes up there from Vermont/Sunset Red Line Subway station. If you want to pick up some San Diego station, you can head out to Getty Museum near UCLA campus. Metro rapid bus line 734/234 Weekends. I had picked up some San Diego stations over at the Getty Museum in the past I had to blocked out the Mt. Wilson direction because of HD co channel interference.
 
Might try going out to the end of one of the piers (except Santa Monica). Redondo Beach, Seal Beach. Top of Pt. Fermin. Not sure about the noise level in Signal Hill in Long Beach. Or if in San Diego, Pt. Loma. Onced you get inland soil conductivity and noise level will probably do you in.
 
K6JHU said:
Might try going out to the end of one of the piers (except Santa Monica). Redondo Beach, Seal Beach. Top of Pt. Fermin. Not sure about the noise level in Signal Hill in Long Beach. Or if in San Diego, Pt. Loma. Onced you get inland soil conductivity and noise level will probably do you in.
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Is Santa Monica susceptible to a lot of electrical noise? And I noticed that Golden Hill/Balboa Park in SD sits on a little high ground, would that also work for reception? Also, since I’m using public transit, would the Azusa area be decent spot to pick up a lot of the IE signals?
 
ksradiogeek said:
Is Santa Monica susceptible to a lot of electrical noise? And I noticed that Golden Hill/Balboa Park in SD sits on a little high ground, would that also work for reception? Also, since I’m using public transit, would the Azusa area be decent spot to pick up a lot of the IE signals?
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This is a broad statement, so there will be exceptions for sure, but generally you want to be on the other side of the Via Verde hills (essentially the 10/57 interchange area) to get all the I.E. stations, especially 96.7 KCAL. KOLA 99.9 often comes in like a local in downtown LA.
 
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