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Blind luck catches
- Thread starter ftballfan
- Start date
Travelling on Labor Day weekend a few years ago I stayed in a motel near Richmond IN. Put the Bose Wave on the nightstand and set alarm for 6AM. Woke up shit off alarm then decided to do a quick band scan. Within 2 min, I picked up KFI on 640 with an ID. Totally unplanned, totally blind luck. Can't remember much of the other stuff sice I quit while I was ahead.
Back in April I tuned my TRF up the band and landed on what sounded like a local station on 1490. It was loud enough to sound like the transmitter was a few miles away.
But it was two states away, in Great Falls, MT -- KGFR. Heard a full ID, some music, and then it disappeared into the mess after maybe half a minute.
Never heard it since -- never heard it before that time, either... A total chance logging.
But it was two states away, in Great Falls, MT -- KGFR. Heard a full ID, some music, and then it disappeared into the mess after maybe half a minute.
Never heard it since -- never heard it before that time, either... A total chance logging.
Back in the fall of 1979 when my parents were taking me to look at colleges, we stayed overnight in Harrisonburg, Virginia as they decided to drive back to New Jersey the next day.
Late the next morning when we were getting ready to check out close to 11 am, I was doing a band scan to see what the local stations were during the day and I unexpectedly heard KYW 1060.
It was weak but had an easily listenable signal. Steady too. I'm wondering if the alignment of the mountains in that specific spot had something to do with it because on the car radio, it got weaker as we went back north and was completely gone for miles already by the time we got on the highway that went in the direction of Washington.
Late the next morning when we were getting ready to check out close to 11 am, I was doing a band scan to see what the local stations were during the day and I unexpectedly heard KYW 1060.
It was weak but had an easily listenable signal. Steady too. I'm wondering if the alignment of the mountains in that specific spot had something to do with it because on the car radio, it got weaker as we went back north and was completely gone for miles already by the time we got on the highway that went in the direction of Washington.
I'd say that these are my two blind luck catches....
In 1964 one night I was in a motel room in Flagststaff, AZ. Just "spinning the dial" on a GE clock radio, I came upon a good, steady signal from WBZ.
Forty-plus years later, another hotel room, this one in Oak Lawn, IL. KXOL...an x-bander from Salt Lake City came wafting in....also with a good, stready signal. This was just around sunrise, so I have to suspect they either "forgot" to power down or were otherwise for some reason on 10kw day power.
In 1964 one night I was in a motel room in Flagststaff, AZ. Just "spinning the dial" on a GE clock radio, I came upon a good, steady signal from WBZ.
Forty-plus years later, another hotel room, this one in Oak Lawn, IL. KXOL...an x-bander from Salt Lake City came wafting in....also with a good, stready signal. This was just around sunrise, so I have to suspect they either "forgot" to power down or were otherwise for some reason on 10kw day power.
In the 80's I love TV and Radio
I was watching KRON going off the air one night, I saw a faint signal on Ch.4 at the time I didn't know about E-skip or Tropo's
I know there's a Reno on Ch.4, was it night time Tropo?
I was watching KRON going off the air one night, I saw a faint signal on Ch.4 at the time I didn't know about E-skip or Tropo's
I know there's a Reno on Ch.4, was it night time Tropo?
Dunno about blind luck, for the radio was on ....
AM : One SSS, I tuned to 900, literally a few doors down on the dial from a huge WCBS 880 signal. Some DJ gave 'the weather for Bath, Brunswick and vicinity'. The logbook's most likely possibility was WCME in Maine. I checked the map, sent them a QSL request -- and got one back! That's the way they introed the weather.
The verie, for maybe four seconds' worth of listening, remains my TSL record, lol.
FM: Up here in NE PA I had a little Ramsey FM part-15 transmitter and decided to check its 'coverage'. I hooked it up to literal rabbit-ears, plugged a casette deck into it for music, and got in the car to do 'field measurements'.
I could've saved gas and just walked. It went maybe 200 feet -- before being knocked into oblivion by E-skipping Oldies 108 -- WSRZ Sarasota FL.
TV : I'd mentioned somewhere else about the time we bought a nice new Radio Shack aerial -- the 90-mile one. Surely we'd get the three Wilkes-Barre/Scranton UHF's better. WB/Sc is maybe 40 air miles. And we did get them nicely. But first, just going up the VHF knob, the clearest and loudest thing there was that pest WFTL channel 2 from Miami.
AM : One SSS, I tuned to 900, literally a few doors down on the dial from a huge WCBS 880 signal. Some DJ gave 'the weather for Bath, Brunswick and vicinity'. The logbook's most likely possibility was WCME in Maine. I checked the map, sent them a QSL request -- and got one back! That's the way they introed the weather.
The verie, for maybe four seconds' worth of listening, remains my TSL record, lol.
FM: Up here in NE PA I had a little Ramsey FM part-15 transmitter and decided to check its 'coverage'. I hooked it up to literal rabbit-ears, plugged a casette deck into it for music, and got in the car to do 'field measurements'.
I could've saved gas and just walked. It went maybe 200 feet -- before being knocked into oblivion by E-skipping Oldies 108 -- WSRZ Sarasota FL.
TV : I'd mentioned somewhere else about the time we bought a nice new Radio Shack aerial -- the 90-mile one. Surely we'd get the three Wilkes-Barre/Scranton UHF's better. WB/Sc is maybe 40 air miles. And we did get them nicely. But first, just going up the VHF knob, the clearest and loudest thing there was that pest WFTL channel 2 from Miami.
For me...
AM: 810, just tuning around one night, about 2000 or 2001, and WHB came in well in my house in Charleston. Don't remember specifics, but it may have been on their nighttime pattern too. 5kw from Kansas City heard in SC. Not heard at all since.
FM: one of my first DX catches, WKQL Jacksonville at 96.9 over local WSUY on my Walkman. Was excited.
TV: walking on Folly Beach one afternoon with the Walkman audio tuner, heard two Channel 3s, one from Wichita Falls and another from Eufuala, OK within 45 minutes. Also, at local hospital near a window, could hear WTLV Jacksonville.
AM: 810, just tuning around one night, about 2000 or 2001, and WHB came in well in my house in Charleston. Don't remember specifics, but it may have been on their nighttime pattern too. 5kw from Kansas City heard in SC. Not heard at all since.
FM: one of my first DX catches, WKQL Jacksonville at 96.9 over local WSUY on my Walkman. Was excited.
TV: walking on Folly Beach one afternoon with the Walkman audio tuner, heard two Channel 3s, one from Wichita Falls and another from Eufuala, OK within 45 minutes. Also, at local hospital near a window, could hear WTLV Jacksonville.
My favorite catch was in 2008....40 miles north of Albany NY....I thought that I was listening to local classic rock station WPYX-106.5 (50 KW)...But discovered much to my surprise...that I was in fact listening to classic rock station KFMC-106.5 (100 kw) from Fairmount, Mn.....instead....probably 1000 miles away...It took me a while to catch on too....since the stations sounded so similar....and the weekender that was on KFMC sounded just like the weekender did at WPYX....at the time (pre-"Premium Choice") and I even worked at WPYX at the time too!!! My other favorite catch...in 1992.....KOMA-1520 Oklahoma City in the Albany, NY area....when WWKB-1520 Buffalo, NY was off the air. In fact....I was 250 miles further from KOMA's transmitter site than WWKB is....and KOMA was sharply nulled in this direction too...A good 2000 miles away I believe....Both of these catches were on a Sony Walkman too....
Driving in Chicago in 1977 and attempting to listen to WBBM-FM (96.3). Instead of hearing WBBM I heard WMJX Miami, Fl via e-skip.
Talk about blind luck, if WBBM-FM hadn't been having technical problems and off the air I never would've experienced my first e-skip catch.
Talk about blind luck, if WBBM-FM hadn't been having technical problems and off the air I never would've experienced my first e-skip catch.
WPBT was the channel 2? Ah. Thx, Crain. I did have the presence of mind to take a picture of it, but only after the ID faded and they had returned back to some opera.
It was a real opera, too, not a soap opera. For a while I was wondering what WCBS-TV in New York was doing, broadcasting an opera at that hour .... maybe 1 in the afternoon.
Had to've been 15 years ago.
Another blind-luck affair and Florida-reception link :
It was when I was going to school in Florida, 1972. One night I'm this happy, horny college-age kid driving around St. Pete and Largo looking for any kind of action (in a 1962 LeSabre) tuned to the great WLCY 1380, maybe 10 PM.
Inadvertently, I drove into their NW null, and got several IDable seconds' worth of KWK St. Louis on the car radio.
Whenever I travel now, I haul along a portable/battery cassette deck, space and cx permitting.
It was a real opera, too, not a soap opera. For a while I was wondering what WCBS-TV in New York was doing, broadcasting an opera at that hour .... maybe 1 in the afternoon.
Had to've been 15 years ago.
Another blind-luck affair and Florida-reception link :
It was when I was going to school in Florida, 1972. One night I'm this happy, horny college-age kid driving around St. Pete and Largo looking for any kind of action (in a 1962 LeSabre) tuned to the great WLCY 1380, maybe 10 PM.
Inadvertently, I drove into their NW null, and got several IDable seconds' worth of KWK St. Louis on the car radio.
Whenever I travel now, I haul along a portable/battery cassette deck, space and cx permitting.
Mine is very similar to radioman148's scenario.
My local WNWN 98.5 was off the air for about a week due to technical difficulties. I caught WDWG Rocky Mount, NC, via SHORT skip with a baseball game.
To the guy who mentioned KXOL in Chicago. Local sunrise is the best time to hear the west coast stations. That's how I've bagged KNX, KFI, KNBR and CKWX here in Michigan.
My local WNWN 98.5 was off the air for about a week due to technical difficulties. I caught WDWG Rocky Mount, NC, via SHORT skip with a baseball game.
To the guy who mentioned KXOL in Chicago. Local sunrise is the best time to hear the west coast stations. That's how I've bagged KNX, KFI, KNBR and CKWX here in Michigan.
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