7-16 Tropo in Michigan

[Lawppy]

Some incredible tropo in Southern Michigan this morning brought some very strong signals in from Wisconsin and beyond. When everything finally came to an end at 12:30 this afternoon, I had 14 new stations which is a personal record for the most new stations heard in one tropo event. I also broke a mileage record for the most mileage heard in one tropo event, 4,006 miles!

Here are all of the new stations logged from Coldwater, MI this morning.

WLKN 98.1 Cleveland, WI- AC- Lakes 98.1- 198 miles NEW #792

WXER 104.5 Plymouth, WI- Hot AC- 104-5 and 96-1 The Point- I've been after this one for a long time. 197 miles NEW #793

WSPT 97.9 Stevens Point, WI- Adult Hits- 97.9 Jack FM- I didn't actually hear an ID on this one, but because the tropo was concentrated to this area, i'm pretty sure this was indeed WSPT. 292 miles NEW #794

WKEB 99.3 Medford, WI- Hot AC- K99- Heard with mentions of Medford. Didn't have much else to go with this station, but a look on radio-locator.com confirmed this one. 348 miles NEW #795

WGLR 97.7 Lancaster, WI- Country- I knew this one was pretty good, as their weather forecast included Mississippi River mentions. 297 miles NEW #796

WOWN 99.3 Shawano, WI- Classic Hits- All of a sudden, 99.3 is a hot frequency for me. Including one new station yesterday, I have confirmed THREE new stations at 99.3 this weekend. That's got to be some kind of personal record for me. 256 miles NEW #797

WBCV 107.9 Wausau, WI- Classic Hits- Big Cheese 107.9- A name like that could only come from Wisconsin! A look online showed several mentions of this being a Wausau station. 309 miles NEW #798

WIXX 101.1 Green Bay, WI- CHR- 101 WIXX- With my antenna turned just right, this completely killed our local translator just two miles away. Ironic thing is, i've tried for this station several times with the translator off the air and I could never get it! 227 miles NEW #799

KYBA 105.3 Stewartville, MN- AC- Y105- Very local sounding station with Rochester mentions. This was my longest catch of the day at 408 miles! It's fitting that a milestone catch for me turned out to be such a good one! NEW #800!!

WMZK 104.1 Merrill, WI- Rock- 104.1 The Blaze- I actually left this one out of my logbook this morning and only just now realized I forgot to log it! Heard with 'Blaze' mentions and Dee Snider's 'House Of Hair' program. 321 miles NEW #801

I took a one-hour break and came back to confirm four more stations!

WORQ 90.1 Green Bay, WI- Christian Cont- Q90- Heard with Christian music and Q90 liner. 224 miles NEW #802

WEMY 91.5 Green Bay, WI- Religious- Heard with Green Bay mentions. Only 710 watts!! 224 miles NEW #803

WOGB 103.1 Kaukauna, WI- Oldies- Played 'Margaritaville' by Jimmy Buffett. Faded as the song went on, only to come up for a last gasp right at the station ID! Perfect! 224 miles NEW #804

WMXG 106.3 Stephenson, MI- Hot AC- Heard with rock mix and call letter mentions. Only my 4th station from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 281 miles NEW #805

 

[Lawppy]

I turned the radio off at 12:30 yesterday afternoon and did some yardwork, ran some errands, etc. Company came over and didn't leave until 9:00, but once they left, it was off to the races. What I heard last night completely blew the roof off of my DX'atorium, totally shattering one of my most coveted DX records.

I confirmed 8 additional stations last night, bringing my total for the day to 22! Definitely a record for me.

From Coldwater, MI

KNSR 88.9 Collegeville, MN- Minnesota Public Radio- Heard with weather forecast for Saint Cloud. This station was actually one of the weakest ones of the night, but at 535 miles, it still broke my old tropo distance record of 500 miles even. But this record would be very short lived... Keep reading! NEW #806

KQRS 92.5 Golden Valley, MN- KQ92- Heard with Classic Rock mix and several KQ92 mentions. A look on yes.com confirmed the three songs I heard. I've always wanted to get Minneapolis! This is my 24th station on 92.5! 460 miles NEW #807

WGLX 103.3 Wisconsin Rapids, WI- Classic Rock- Heard with GLX mentions. Completely obliterated local WKFR! 297 miles NEW #808

WIZD 99.9 Rudolph, WI- Oldies- Heard with call letter mentions and Dick Bartley's 'American Gold' program. 287 miles NEW #809

KBRK 93.7 Brookings, SD- Hot AC- I literally started shaking when I heard the TOH on this station! I would be more likely to hear this one in a short-haul e-skip than a tropo. It's new log #810 for me and at 634 miles, it is my new tropo distance record, completely shattering even the then hour-old record set by KNSR earlier in the evening!

WGNV 88.5 Milladore, WI- Religious- Heard with positive ID. NEW #811 307 miles

KRAQ 105.7 Jackson, MN- Oldies- Heard with pre-Beatles oldies and KRAQ mentions. NEW #812 518 miles.

KKCK 99.7 Marshall, MN- CHR- Heard with locally produced Rock program called 'The Shag', KKCK's website mentions this program. NEW #813 593 miles

7-16-06 has been by far my best DX'ing event yet... Here it is in numbers!
22 new stations
7637 miles
634 miles-- NEW TROPO DISTANCE RECORD
813 stations since October 2002.

I've met two of my goals already that I set out on in my DX'ing question #2 thread. Breaking my tropo distance record and getting at least 800 stations by the end of summer!

 

[Grrrradio]

Nice to know we Minnesotans are being heard through da tropo ducts, don'tcha know. ;D Unfortunately, Lawppy, I haven't heard any stations from your area lately... but in St. Paul last night, we had a nice opening from the southwest. (I'm guessing it was tropo, since the distances are only on the order of a few hundred miles.) I'm not a patient sort of guy, so I didn't stick around for call letters... but most of the following stations I was able to recognize from experience, given the amount of trans-Midwest driving I've done in the last half-decade.

97.7 - Spanish, presumably Omaha
97.9 - Rock, presumably Sioux City. (Earlier in the day we had Life 97.9 from Fargo like a strong local, as well as a station on 96.1 mentioning Sisseton, SD... interesting to see how the ducts shift over time.)
89.7 - Rock, probably KIWR-Council Bluffs (was able to exclude the possibility of a student show on the Mankato, MN station, as one of their IDs on a different program cut through the rock I was hearing.)
92.9 - Country; heard a reference to "Ida Grove" -- Radio-Locator search corroborates this as KKIA-Ida Grove, IA
103.3 - Religious, with USA Radio News; probably KTFC-Sioux City

 

[Lawppy]

And the new stations keep coming!!

7-17 was nothing like 7-16 was for tropo. I thought it was going to be a shutout. But then I turned the radio on again around 9:00 and heard stations from Cleveland, Akron and beyond. This tropo event brought me four more new stations, bringing my total for the last three days to 30!

From Coldwater, MI

Relogs:
94.9 WQMX Medina, OH- Country
97.5 WONE Akron, OH- Rock
102.9 WYFM Sharon, PA- Classic Rock- Y103
105.1 WQXK Salem, OH- K105

NEW STATIONS:
95.5 WFGI Johnstown, PA- Country- Heard with 'Mississippi Girl' by Faith Hill. It was a very strong signal at first, but of course, the station faded out. Before I lost it completely, I heard local mentions and a weather forecast from ABC 23. Johnstown does indeed have an ABC affiliate on Channel 23. 331 miles NEW #814

92.9 WLTJ Pittsburgh, PA- AC- 412 area code mentions and call letters announced by female DJ. I've wanted a Pittsburgh station for a long time and I finally got one! 278 miles NEW #815

102.5 WDVE Pittsburgh, PA- Rock- Several '102.5 DVE' and Pittsburgh mentions. No doubt on this one. 278 miles NEW #816

99.7 WSHH Pittsburgh, PA- AC- Heard with Delilah and 'Wish 99.7' liners. Apparently PGH needs two AC stations? 279 miles NEW #817