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FM Frequency of the Week: 107.9

M

MarioMania

Vallejo, CA

KSTE-FM Sacramento Stunting with a fringe signal

107.7 The Bone doesn't give me headaches, It only give me little splatter on 107.9

Carmichael, CA

KSTE-FM Sacramento Stunting

Cols can change

DX/Retro - While living in Pacifica, I never really got it cause of 107.7 KSOL at that rime
 
East Tennessee: With a local 100,000 watt station on 107.7 it's hard to get much of anything on 107.9, nonetheless I've gotten WOGT, East Ridge TN (near Nashville) with about a 20 minute stop set driving through downtown Knoxville.

Retro/other: Dayton, Ohio again had a strong local on WMMX.I did manage WEMM, Huntington WV a couple of times, and WTPI/WNTR Indianapolis a little more often. I never got WVMX, Westerville OH in Dayton itself, but it was somewhat regular in Springfield.

Lafayette IN: As you may know, WIFE-FM was on 107.9, lost its license due to shenanigans, and returned in 1984 as WTPI. I don't remember getting much of anything else in the months I was in the area with the frequency blank.
 
MarioMania said:
KSTE-FM Sacramento Stunting
Click to expand...
With Star Wars music, LOL.

In Cheyenne, WY:
It's 107.9 KBPI Fort Collins (the transmitter is actually closer to Cheyenne, at 15 miles away from my house). The signal is generally pretty strong, but the RDS can drop out occasionally. Of course, they used to be 107.9 The Bear before it moved to 92.9. All sorts of Coloradoans complained that the 92.9 signal did not penetrate into Loveland and Greeley very well, but in my experience, 92.9 is at least audible in Fort Collins proper.

Elsewhere:
KBPI is strong in Fort Collins, and my clumsy self managed to forget my wire antenna on a trip to Denver, but KBPI did sneak in on the internal antenna on my R-108.

In Casper, it's KRVK with a strong signal at the gas station I stopped at. It seriously makes me want KJAC to switch back to Jack-FM :).

In Rapid City, it was KXZT Sturgis, however the signal was a bit on the weak side from my hotel room. Most stations that broadcast from KXZT's tower employs an on-channel booster (a quick look at a Longley-Rice map shows why), but this one does not. It was an interesting opportunity to see how it does cover without a booster.
 
At my home location in the far northwest Chicago suburbs, 107.9 is WLEY COL, Aurora, IL. For years, as WAUR, it operated with 50kw at 500 feet (IIRC) from a site north of Aurora on Eola road. Now they're using a stick about 15 miles to the northeast of there, closer to the City of Chicago. That current stick is over 700 feet with a power of 23kw directional with a null to the north (presumably to protect a Milwaukee 107.7). The result for me is a good signal, which has remained pretty much unchanged after the switch, despite the newer pattern being less favorable than the old setup.
 
I was part of a group in the county that got an LPFM licensed to 107.9 'back when'. It's long gone ; the usual reasons. Its biggest achievement was costing a big company who-knows-how-much, after we'd made some amended filings, got our way, then changed frequency.

BEFORE all that, I had a wee FM transmitter on a battery, attached to rabbit ears inside the house, and while driving around to see how far it went, some Oldies station was devouring us one afternoon.
WSRZ 107.9 Sarasota!

Modern-day story: I got another part-15 FM xmtr a week or so back, the size of maybe a pack of 100 mm cigarettes, and tried it out. Just for snots and giggles, of course, while touring around checking 'the coverage' or back and forth to the store.

So far, bouncing us around in just these past few weeks have been WOTH Williamsport and WKRF Tobyhanna (both from PA), WSRX from northwest NJ, and WEBE from Connecticut.
 
cyberdad said:
At my home location in the far northwest Chicago suburbs, 107.9 is WLEY COL, Aurora, IL. For years, as WAUR, it operated with 50kw at 500 feet (IIRC) from a site north of Aurora on Eola road. Now they're using a stick about 15 miles to the northeast of there, closer to the City of Chicago. That current stick is over 700 feet with a power of 23kw directional with a null to the north (presumably to protect a Milwaukee 107.7). The result for me is a good signal, which has remained pretty much unchanged after the switch, despite the newer pattern being less favorable than the old setup.
Click to expand...
The 700 foot stick you mention is actually the tower at Army Trail Road that is also used by WSCR AM 670 and WBBM AM 780. WLEY also has 3 FM booster transmitters operating on 107.9 FM (one in Cicero, IL and two in Chicago, IL).
 
gr8oldies said:
East Tennessee: With a local 100,000 watt station on 107.7 it's hard to get much of anything on 107.9, nonetheless I've gotten WOGT, East Ridge TN (near Nashville) with about a 20 minute stop set driving through downtown Knoxville.

Retro/other: Dayton, Ohio again had a strong local on WMMX.I did manage WEMM, Huntington WV a couple of times, and WTPI/WNTR Indianapolis a little more often. I never got WVMX, Westerville OH in Dayton itself, but it was somewhat regular in Springfield.

Lafayette IN: As you may know, WIFE-FM was on 107.9, lost its license due to shenanigans, and returned in 1984 as WTPI. I don't remember getting much of anything else in the months I was in the area with the frequency blank.
Click to expand...
East Ridge TN is actually a suburb of Chattanooga TN.
 
CADXER said:
The 700 foot stick you mention is actually the tower at Army Trail Road that is also used by WSCR AM 670 and WBBM AM 780. WLEY also has 3 FM booster transmitters operating on 107.9 FM (one in Cicero, IL and two in Chicago, IL).
Click to expand...
Thanks! I thought the 700 foot stick might be the stick WLEY was using, but I wasn't sure. I also ididn't realize WLEY had a booster. I did know they had a second transmitter, but I thought it was a translator on another frequency.`
 
All WVMX from my location in Pickerington, Ohio. It's been Mix 107.9 for over a decade, after successful runs with 80s and oldies formats. Still broadcasting from a tower along Interstate 71 a few miles south of Exit 131 (U.S. 36 and Ohio 37).
WEMM jumps all over WVMX as far north as Lancaster, Ohio, but even with WEMM's 50,000 watts, that might be as much atmospheric as anything else given the terrain and distance between here and Huntington. Even so, that seemed to be a regular occurrence when I worked in Lancaster well over a decade ago.
 
Northeast New Jersey: not counting pirates, a currently weak (moderate when transmitted from Bridgeport) WEBE 108, Westport, CT.
Tropo: WXKS Boston, MA in rare events. Had Boston FM's come through in the area only 3-4 times in the last 15 years I've been DXing
unsure: WPPZ Pennsauken, NJ. That station has gone through so many format changes, same with Philly's 100.3 and 103.9. that it's hard to tell if I received from my location, in previous years. I'm going to check, next time Philly stations boom into my area.
 
Central Washington: 107.9 KMBI Spokane is the dominant on this channel. Occasional KJHS-LP Wenatchee in spots.
 
I'll pop in for a minute and add an "other location" to the thread.

At our getaway location on the Gulf exactly at the Florida-Alabama state line, 107.9 is vacant more often than not. But occasionally WPFM from Panama City, Florida absolutely roars in on tropo. 54KW from a 1300 foot TV stick. Distance about 120 miles. I used to set up my whole house FM modulator on 107.9, and if WPFM was in, it blew holes in the modulator's signal. WPFM eventually sold me on getting a bluetooth transmitter. LOL!
 
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Great add cyberdad. On my few visits to Panama City, I remember 107.9 and 94.5 particularly standing out as blasting down the coast.
 
schmave said:
Great add cyberdad. On my few visits to Panama City, I remember 107.9 and 94.5 particularly standing out as blasting down the coast.
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Thanks for the kind words. I remember 107.9 in Panama City as a rocker "back in the day". Now I believe it's K-Love.

The Gulf Coast is a great spot for DX. Both AM and FM, but it's especially good during FM tropo events. Obviously tropo is at its best in summer, but it also happens there in winter. In summer, most of the New Orleans full-facility FMs are present as often as not at the beachfront building where we stay. That's roughly the same distance as Panama City. Normally we stay on the 6th floor of the building, but for the week we've got booked with the kids and grandkids for the end of June, we're on the 11th floor (of 12). I've been up there before, and all I can say is "Bring it!!!"
 
It's a busy channel here in Rochester NY. WWHT Syracuse used to dominate and is still often on top, but depending how close you get to the lake, CHUC Cobourg ON often takes over since its move to FM. CJXY Burlington/Hamilton is an occasional visitor, and there's also a religious translator in western Monroe County that's sometimes heard on my side of town.
 
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