• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

7/5/2010 - Big E-Skip WA>Everywhere to my East

C

crainbebo

Today, a big E-skip opening happened in Bothell, WA. I picked up 10 new logs! Here they are, from first log to last log.

4:13PM: 101.9 KBTO Bottineau, ND w/ ID "Sunny 101.9" and Brooks and Dunn mentions. Distance is 1003 miles.

4:14PM: 93.7 WDAY Fargo, ND. ID "Y94", CHR music. Matched webstream. Distance is 1165 miles!

4:18PM: 92.9 KKXL Grand Forks, ND. ID "XL-93", Hip-hop/Top 40 music. Distance is 1161 miles!

4:20PM: 96.1 KQHT Crookston, MN. ID "96.1 The Fox" and classic rock music. Over local KXXO! Distance is 1170 miles!

4:23PM: 100.3 KSNR Fisher, MN. ID "100.3 Cat Country" w/ a C&W format. Over CKKQ Victoria, BC pest! Distance is 1179 miles.

4:27PM: 95.1 KBVB Barnesville, MN. Heard an ad for a car dealership "in Fargo". Googled 95.1 Fargo, got it. Distance is 1187 miles!

4:34PM: 103.1 CKMM Winnipeg, MB. Heard a mention of hot103live.com, which IS CKMM's website. Distance is 1143 miles!

5:33PM: 89.9 KTMH Montrose, CO. Mentions and IDs of "Light Praise", which is 90.5 in Colorado Springs. Distance is 975 miles.

5:59PM: 105.7 KPMX Sterling, CO. Heard right at the TOH, so legal ID "KPMX Sterling" into national news. Distance 1065 miles.

6:00PM: 91.5 KUNC Greeley, CO. ID at the TOH w/ mentions of a 91.1 satellator. Distance is 967 miles.]

I will update with any other logs. What an afternoon!

-crainbebo
 
6:41PM: 93.7 KIZZ Minot, ND: I heard an ad for the Raging Rivers Waterpark in Mandan, ND. It's close to Minot. Distance is 958 miles.

-crainbebo
 
Es just went toward the South! These are my newest new logs.

7:39PM: 91.1 XETRA Tijuana, BCN: First Mexico Log on FM! 91X ID. The strongest Es signal I've ever heard in three years of DXing!!! Distance is 1088 miles.

7:45PM: TV6 XETV Tijuana, BCN: First Mexican TV log! ID "San Diego's 6". Distance is about 1090 miles.

7:57PM: 91.7 XHGLX Tijuana, BCN: Spanish CHR music, followed by EXA 91.7 ID in SS. Strong signal over KXOT! Distance is 1090 miles.

-crainbebo
 
Great catches crain!! I caught some pretty good e-skip up here in Oak Harbor/Whidbey Island, WA as well today. I'm no professional, and this was my first time actually trying to catch e-skip, so when I saw there was an opening, I was excited to try and see what I could find. I checked the vhfdx website and saw a big opening to the east and south, so I grabbed my little Sony clock radio (with a wire antenna), set it up in my kitchen and went to town. ;D 101.9 was the frequency of choice today, since that seemed to be one of the only open frequencies that wasn't dominated by a local, or IBOC hash. :mad: Here's what I found:

101.9
5:57 Pretenders - Back on the Chain Gang
Segued into Lynyrd Skynyrd - Gimme Three Steps at 5:59
Thought it was KINK-FM Portland at first, but checked their website log... no match. They were playing the Sneaker Pimps, David Gray and John Mellencamp at the time.
On an unrelated note, I noticed 104.5 KMCQ's stereo carrier was turned off. Wonder why?

I decided that the clock radio wasn't working that well, so I hopped in my truck and drove down to the water (down by West Beach). I thought it was strange when I saw my phone get a text message saying "International data rates apply in this area". ??? It must have picked up a cell phone tower across the water in Victoria, BC! Anyway, I had a little better luck with my factory stereo inside my Ford Explorer...

Again, on 101.9:
6:23 Beatles - Come Together
6:25 Verizon commercial mentioning Cheyenne.
6:29 ID as King FM playing classic rock. Confirmed by internet as KIGN-FM Cheyenne, WY! :eek:
6:35 ID CITR FM - CITR Vancouver, BC - only 1800 watts!
Fade, then commercial for Ballard's Resort at 6:38. Ballard's Resort is in Baudette, MN! :eek: No station ID or RDS ID.
6:43 ID as Oldies 101.9. Station fighting with another playing rap/hip hop. Oldies station possibly KFMH Rapid City, SD. No ID or RDS :eek:
6:44 Fade into Patsy Cline - Walking After Midnight, then fade into U2 - Vertigo. Confirmed not to be KINK-FM Portland (they were playing Jefferson Airplane at the time)
6:46 Dead air, then rapid fade into commercial for Comcast Xfinity. No ID or RDS.

6:48 Decided to try other frequencies. Found KMTT's translator at 103.3... no big deal, but was never able to catch until now.
6:50 Metallica - Nothing Else Matters on 104.9. No ID or RDS. No RDS data during my entire log, with the exception of locals.
6:57 Moved back down to 101.9. Spanish music... no ID.
7:07 Sugarland - Already Gone
7:11 Country mixing with 3, possibly 4 other stations
7:14 SOLID STEREO SIGNAL FOR 3 MINUTES, NO FADING (sounded like a local!)... Commercials for McCracken rodeo, Riverside Chiropractic, Tech Junkies (27th & Vine in Hayes), Beaker Insurance Agency, Homestill siding, D&T sewer & cleaning, K-18 cafe (?) in Lucas (mentions of Post Rock City), ATI Equipment (Hays, Kansas! :eek:), Fade... ID... but was unable to catch, then fade into Faith Hill - My Baby Loves Me Just The Way That I Am
7:18 Faith Hill song, fighting with another country station playing Alan Jackson - Gone Country
7:23 Lady Antebellum - Need You Now, fade, ID as "Bull Country", then Garth Brooks - Papa Loved Mama. Confirmed by website & frequency search as KKQY Hays, Kansas!! :eek:
7:28 2 different country stations (possibly KKQY and another unknown) fighting it out. One station was playing some sort of classic country/Americana. No ID.
7:36 Tom Petty - Jefferson Jericho Blues (ID'ed with my Shazam iPhone app, and by internet) as KINK-FM Portland.

So all in all, a total of 8, maybe 9 or 10 different stations on 101.9, plus an unknown rock station on 104.9. Not a bad afternoon of e-skip here in Western Washington!! I think I need to go buy a better radio and set it up at home so I'm not having to sit in my truck though. ;D
 
Good catches! You should go down south near my area since there's a lot more open frequencies than you. I didn't get past the CO border for KS Es today, however I have caught other KS stations before.

-crainbebo
 
As much as I check the bands, I completely missed this one. Got my main PC back after a 3-week absence and a motherboard replacement, and I got so involved that I didn't check for several hours. No problem, right?; not much even happening nationwide early yesterday! (Wrong!) My loss.
I could have done the PC stuff later.
Anyway, guys, congratulations on some great catches in an area I've always figured we'd do well in. here.
DX reports from mailing lists indicate that your Kansas went to Oregon.
All of this leads to a question that maybe Crain can answer or have a good time guessing at.
Due to my location, I have to put in one exception, though.
Except for adjacent HD frequencies, during openings here, which frequency is most likely to be occupied by e-skip during any DX? In other words, what freq is likely to ield pay dirt when monitoring for early notification of an opening?
I've been DXing since 1974, so understand that the band opens from low to high, so I'm looking for the most active, lowest unoccupied freq that you almost always have DX on.
In Phoenix it was 95.1, with 92.9 a close second. (Till KVIB came on the air there!)
KUOW's HD didn't get wiped out by anything during last Tuesday's blockbuster, so I still monitor 92.1 or 92.9 most of the time.

Last Tuesday I noticed 92.1 first, but 91.1 was _very_ active during most of the opening.
Incidentally, I've been here four years, and this has been the most active year so far.
Ge, too bad I missed those Tijuanas, too; heard a bit of that in 2007, hope it opens up to SoCal/AZ again this year
I've lived in California and Arizona and have heard many Seattle openings--up to the top of the dial in some cases. I'm ready for the favor to be returned.
 
Best frequencies with very fringe stations or open stations for multiplex...
89.9
91.5
92.1
93.7
95.3
99.5
101.1
101.9 BEST FREQUENCY!
102.1
103.1 (this one is quite hard for you since KMTT's translator on 103.3 bleeds in here...)
104.7 (hard w/ KMCQ bleed)
105.7
107.3

Head farther south toward Olympia/Centralia and Es should overtake Seattle stations. Not here.

-crainbebo

-crainbebo
 
It's much more difficult to find openings in progress than it used to be.
Analog TV channels 2 through 6 used to be a great indicator that conditions were hot, but of course they're gone in the U.S.
It's much harder to set a freq or two to monitor in order to be alerted to an e-skip event.
Maybe in November, when we're all cold and we haven't had FM DX in months, I'll write about what I used to do in the 70's, which made it almost impossible to miss an opening if I was home.
b
 
I know I'm becoming a broken record on this, but...my friends at the Worldwide TV-FM DX Association have a great e-mail list that's free to join, no membership in the club required. While most of the WTFDA membership is eastern or midwestern, there are some western DXers, too, and there's enough of a critical mass of experienced DXers there that you simply will not miss an opening if you're paying attention to the list.

It is, plainly put, the best real-time TV-FM DX resource in North America, and anyone who's serious about DXing those bands really ought to think about joining. It's very easy: just send an e-mail to [email protected].

(There's much more about the club at http://www.wtfda.org, too.)
 
I agree with you about the WTFDA, Scott. Very knowledgeable and nice group.
I'd say this, too, though. It'd be nice to see more West Coast people on the WTFDA mailing list.
It's much easier for a West Coast DXer to miss an opening, even being on the list; there are fewer of us, with very little representation in some areas.
That's probably because there's so much more activity, hence interest and involvement, on the east coast.
Best fix for that, though, is for more people to share info.
It helps everyone.
 
OK, I'll get this on the right post eventually. :D

Just got back from a weeks vacation on the Oregon Coast, Fort Steven State Park near Warrenton, Oregon. We arrived on the afternoon of July 5th. Upon our arrival I decided to tune in KJR-FM from Seattle which usually comes in on the Northern Oregon Coast. To my surprise, I found a battle between two stations on 95.7, going back and forth with Classic Hits. Turns out the other station was KNDK-FM from Langdon, ND.
Later my wife and I decided to drive up to Astoria and on the way I pushed the button for 98.7 KUPL. At first I only noticed that the station was coming in strong, then heard the station ID as KOUT Rapid City. Wow! I was blown away at how it was coming in like a local. Not too long after it faded out.
I also got unknown stations on 95.5 and 97.1 that day, over the Portland stations but they didn't stay in long enough to get an ID.
 
My 91.5 KUNC is just a tentative now, there are no satellators on 91.1. Might have been KRNE Merriman, NE (NET Radio) but will check in next Es opening to CO area.

-crainbebo
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom