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Boston FM Reception Question

KML0224

KML0224

While sitting outside of the New England Aquarium and then walking down Atlantic Avenue, I scanned the FM dial, with some of it switched to the CITY side of the DX/CITY switch on a Panasonic AM/FM/CD "Walkman". Here's what I got...

88.1-W--- ------ [?]
88.9-WERS Boston [Emerson College]
89.7-WGBH Boston [NPR]
90.9-W--- ------ [?]
91.9-WUMB Boston [U-Mass Boston]
92.5-WXRV Haverhill [AC?]
92.9-WBOS Brookline [Modern Rock] "Radio 92.9"
93.7-WMKK Lawrence/Boston [Classic Hits?] "Mike FM"
94.5-WJMN Boston [CHR/Urban] "Jam'n 94.5"
95.3-WCRB Cambridge [Classical]
96.1-WSRS Worcester [AC] WEAK
96.9-WTKK Boston [Talk] "96.9 FM Talk"
97.7-WKAF Brockton [Active Rock] Relay of WAAF-FM Westborough
98.1-W--- ------ [Classical] Not sure if this was a local on another spot or not
98.5-WBMX Boston [Hot AC]
99.5-WCRB ------ [Classical]
100.7-WZLX Boston [Classic Rock]
101.7-WFNX Lynn/Boston [Modern Rock?]
102.5-W--- ------ [Country]
103.3-WODS Boston [Oldies]
104.1-WBCN Boston [Active Rock?]
104.9-WBOQ Gloucester [?] ID'd while carrying Red Sox baseball
105.7-WROR Framingham/Boston [Classic Hits]
106.1-W--- ------ [R&B] "Touch 106.1" <---Isn't this a pirate?
106.7-WMJX Boston [AC]
107.3-WAAF Westborough [Active Rock] WEAK
107.5-WFNK Lewiston, ME [Classic Hits] <---YES, this is correct! WFCC-FM of Chatam in slightly, too
107.9-WXKS Medford/Boston [CHR] "Kiss 108"
 
KML-224 said:
While sitting outside of the New England Aquarium and then walking down Atlantic Avenue, I scanned the FM dial, with some of it switched to the CITY side of the DX/CITY switch on a Panasonic AM/FM/CD "Walkman". Here's what I got...

88.1-W--- ------ [?]
90.9-W--- ------ [?]
98.1-W--- ------ [Classical] Not sure if this was a local on another spot or not
99.5-WCRB ------ [Classical]
102.5-W--- ------ [Country]
106.1-W--- ------ [R&B] "Touch 106.1" <---Isn't this a pirate?
Click to expand...

The only classical station I recognized on the list for 98.1 is KING (FM) in Seattle. ~2500 miles away. Seems incredibly unlikely but a one-in-(at least)-a-million possibility via e-skip, I guess. In southeastern New England, 98.1 should be WCTK New Bedford [Country].

88.1-WMBR Cambridge [MIT]
90.9-WBUR Boston [NPR]
99.5-WCRB Lowell [Classical]
102.5-WKLB Waltham [Country]
106.1----- Boston [Pirate] Yes, it calls itself The Touch and I gather that the format is Urban <something>
 
There is no way in hell that he picked up KING FM in Seattle. Even via eskip that would be highly unusual. Most eskip stations that come in are either from the Florida or Chicago areas. I would say 1,200 miles away maximum. To get one from clear across the country is virtually impossible. I think it was bleed through from another frequency.
 
I go with Skynet on this one. Probably a local splattered onto a different spot. Putting my "Walkman" on CITY nearly wiped this out.
 
The 95.3 you mean is WHRB (probably mis-typed, you said WCRB). The pirate at 106.1 alleges to have the call letters
"LP-WTCH" (yeah right). Am not surprised you got a Maine station...if you headed south on RT 3 or went to
Cape Cod you'd get some Maine/seacost of NH stations even on FM, and esp. this time of year

Classical at 98.1--poss. someone nearby using an FM re-transmitter in vehicle or home? or even skip
from Canada (sometimes QC or ON stations can come in). It could be a translator we don't know about
for public radio somewhere.

I remember picking up some skip this time of year; many years ago when WMWM was not on full time,
I went to do a noon show and for the heck of it put WMWM on my car stereo just before I went in to
turn on, and found I could pick up
(at 91.7) WPCC--Pensacola Christian College.

And of course on the list above, the actual ID for some of those stations would be something
like: WFNX Lynn--the Boston part is added by the station to say "we serve the Boston area"
but the actual city of license is simply Lynn.
 
I used to pick up 106.3 out of Nashua, NH on a regular basis on the FM in that area. WXLO out of Worcester tends to come in quite strong there too.
 
raccoonradio said:
The 95.3 you mean is WHRB (probably mis-typed, you said WCRB).

Classical at 98.1--poss. someone nearby using an FM re-transmitter in vehicle or home? or even skip
from Canada (sometimes QC or ON stations can come in). It could be a translator we don't know about
for public radio somewhere.
Click to expand...

Atlantic Ave. near the Aquarium is VERY close to WHRB's transmitter on top of One Financial Place across from South Station. The classical on 98.1 was probably a case of receiver overload (splatter, intermodulation, harmonic, etc...) from WHRB, especially since switching to local ("City") mode diminished it.
 
Funny how 101.7 used to be one of the stations that were most AFFECTED by intermod & splatter in downtown that are now one of the stations that CAUSE the intermod. Transmitter location!! ;D
 
Down on the waterfront its possible the OFC stations may cause a little front end
overload on cheap receivers such as a walkman but 99% of the intermod and front
end overload comes from the 7 Class B FM's on the Pru 6/10ths of a mile west

OFC is an exceptionally well engineered and operated site and the intermod products as measured by Broadcast signal Lab are so low they are barley measurable.
WERS and WHRB both use notch filters for each other.
When I built WFNX we spared no expense on this project and installed a more expensive Shivley bandpass filter and had in the budget an identical filter for
WERS and WHRB if there were an increase of any intermod products from the site.
It was not necessary to replace their notch filters as I seem to remember the
worst producted was measured at -117 DB.
The FCC magic # for the intermod products, they have to be -80 DB
WHRB and WFNX are upgraded class A's 6 KW ERP height adjusted, WFNX raw power is only 1400 watts into a 1/2 wave spaced 2 bay antenna.
WHRB runs about half the power into a 4 bay 1/2 wave spaced antenna.
WERS is a downgraded class B running about 3 KW also into a 1/2 wave spaced
4 bay antenna.
The combination of the low raw power and 1/2 wave spaced antennas with little
radiation and intermod products extremely low... OFC contributes very little to
the RF mess downtown.
I had a Hyundai rental with a crappy radio for a couple of weeks, the front
end was so bad I was able to note the nulls and the lobes on the two ERI
master antennas on the PRU
Two of the major lobes are apparent after driving through the toll booths
driving down the Boston side of the Tobin Bridge. several can be observed
on the SE Expressway.
To make the roof cool some of the lobes noted about one mile out have massive power.
Chris Hall
 
For the record, I was using a Panasonic AM/FM/CD personal stereo (a.k.a. "Walkman"), model number SL-CT579V. The "LOCAL/DX" switch in FM mode says "CITY/NOR" but does the exact same thing. The FM sensitivity is fair, but still better than a recent model Sony Walkman (with AM/FM/CD) I use as a backup (with the NOAA weather band and VHF channel 2 to 13...for now).

Speaking of WFNX-FM, wasn't there something involving 101.3 FM and this station a couple of years back? I seem to remember picking them up on that frequency some time back, in the clear and seemingly too stable to be a reflection from the Prudential Center or whatever.
 
They used to have a booster/translator at 101.3 but later switched it off

"WFNX's Boston signal was improved somewhat with the addition of a translator, W267AI (101.3), atop the John Hancock Center, and then improved significantly in 2006 with the move of the main WFNX transmitter from Medford to Boston's One Financial Center, at which time W267AI was deleted."
http://www.bostonradio.org/stations/40824

An archived Boston Phoenix bit about Bruce Mittman from 2001 mentions: "The FNX Radio Network can be heard in Greater Boston on WFNX (101.7 FM), as well as on 101.3 FM in the Back Bay and South End, where an extra transmitter is used to enhance the signal, which is sometimes blocked by tall buildings (a problem shared by other stations)."
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/this_just_in/documents/01560484.htm
 
From Nantucket, I can get:

89.7 WGBH-Clearly, but sometimes garbled
103.3-barely, but still can get it.
Could get WBCN, but WKPE killed that.
99.1 WPLM-Barely.
102.5-barely. However, after rigging a large antenna to my late grandmother's house, I could get it just fine.
90.9- before antenna, WKKL gave it a beating, after the antenna, it improved, but only a little.
 
Actually, in my car from right here in Middletown CT, on 107.5, depending on which direction I am facing I will get any of 3 stations:

WBLS NYC
Frank FM (this is very frequent, almost guarenteed on the Arrigoni Bridge and other locations)
WFCC

It's pretty easy to tell the difference between each one even during commercial breaks.
 
Right...because one plays urban music, one is classic hits and the last one is classical. When I got that faint signal of WFNK-FM, I was getting a hint of WFCC-FM under them.
 
KML-224 said:
For the record, I was using a Panasonic AM/FM/CD personal stereo (a.k.a. "Walkman"), model number SL-CT579V. The "LOCAL/DX" switch in FM mode says "CITY/NOR" but does the exact same thing. The FM sensitivity is fair, but still better than a recent model Sony Walkman (with AM/FM/CD) I use as a backup (with the NOAA weather band and VHF channel 2 to 13...for now).
Click to expand...

That is what I always used when using a walkman. Sony now has a DX local version out as well.
 
Retro said:
That is what I always used when using a walkman. Sony now has a DX local version out as well.
Click to expand...

The Local/DX switch on many Sony Walkman's also has an unintentional "medium" sensitivity position if you carefully place the switch in between "Local" and "DX". It's the perfect sensitivity level for here in Cambridge or Somerville.
 
An archived Boston Phoenix bit about Bruce Mittman from 2001 mentions: "The FNX Radio Network can be heard in Greater Boston on WFNX (101.7 FM), as well as on 101.3 FM in the Back Bay and South End, where an extra transmitter is used to enhance the signal, which is sometimes blocked by tall buildings (a problem shared by other stations)."
Click to expand...

I've often thought that 101.3 would be a half-decent frequency for little WZLY to move to. They get pounded on 91.5 at the moment, mostly by WUML at Lowell (yes, it's far away, but it's co-channel and WZLY is only 7 watts ERP) and also by significant overlap received from WDJM in Framingham on 91.3FM. Granted, if WFNX ever turns on IBOC carriers, then 101.3 is suddenly going to be a lot less attractive...but my instinct is that it'll be a while before that happens.

Unfortunately, Wellesley sits just inside WFNX's new 60dBu contour...so WZLY's 80dBu interfering contour would have substantial overlap to WFNX's 60dBu protected contour. So the FCC won't accept it...not without a "letter of blessing" from WFNX, which one could argue that I'm shamelessly fishing for from ChrisH. ;D
 
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