Car radio on 87.7FM got "splashed" by 2 diff CH. 6's in one week...IN ATLANTA!!

[electroboy73]

Car radio on 87.7FM got "splashed" by 2 diff CH. 6's in one week...IN ATLANTA!!

I live in Gwinnett Co. right on Duluth/Suwanee/Lawrencevile border and one night last week, I was skimming the dial and it landed on 87.7FM and I heard NEWSCHANNEL 6 news at 11 from WJBF-TV in AUGUSTA. Then, on Wednesday night, I was driving on Peachtree Industrial Blvd. in Duluth and checked 87.7 again and I heard the FOX reality show, "Hell's Kitchen"! (in my car!).....lol! Seems it was from WBRC-TV (FOX 6) in Birmingham. Both signals....(once I got them), didn't hang out for very long but thought it was pretty interesting to say the least.

 

[jabba17]

Re: Car radio on 87.7FM got "splashed" by 2 diff CH. 6's in one week...IN ATLANTA!!

I live in Gwinnett Co. right on Duluth/Suwanee/Lawrencevile border and one night last week, I was skimming the dial and it landed on 87.7FM and I heard NEWSCHANNEL 6 news at 11 from WJBF-TV in AUGUSTA. Then, on Wednesday night, I was driving on Peachtree Industrial Blvd. in Duluth and checked 87.7 again and I heard the FOX reality show, "Hell's Kitchen"! (in my car!).....lol! Seems it was from WBRC-TV (FOX 6) in Birmingham. Both signals....(once I got them), didn't hang out for very long but thought it was pretty interesting to say the least.

I would guess you can pick up a lot of neat stuff atop Peachtree Ridge, although I've never sat down to see what I could DX. I'm assuming what you are calling the Duluth/Suwanee/Lville border is the I-85/Old Ptree exit area.

Peachtree Ridge and Old Peachtree Road, which runs atop the ridge, is the eastern continental divide. The north/west side flows into the Gulf of MX via the Chattahoochee and the south/east side flows directly into the Atlantic via the Yellow River.

That said, I can tell a difference when trying to get WMJE Majic 102.9 out of Clarkesville and WZGA Georgia 105.1 out of Helen. Just on the Atlantic side of the ridge both of them just die in spots (especially along Sugarloaf Parkway which is hidden by the ridge). On the Gulf side it's almost local-quality. The reverse is true for NW metro rimshots like WTSH 107.1.

Similarly, trying to get groundwave signals after dark on the Gulf side from the likes of WCNN and WQXI is a painful experience, and their directional signals don't help, either.

 

[IT_Guru]

Re: Car radio on 87.7FM got "splashed" by 2 diff CH. 6's in one week...IN ATLANTA!!

I live in Gwinnett Co. right on Duluth/Suwanee/Lawrencevile border and one night last week, I was skimming the dial and it landed on 87.7FM and I heard NEWSCHANNEL 6 news at 11 from WJBF-TV in AUGUSTA. Then, on Wednesday night, I was driving on Peachtree Industrial Blvd. in Duluth and checked 87.7 again and I heard the FOX reality show, "Hell's Kitchen"! (in my car!).....lol! Seems it was from WBRC-TV (FOX 6) in Birmingham. Both signals....(once I got them), didn't hang out for very long but thought it was pretty interesting to say the least.

It's not uncommon to hear Channels 6 from Birmingham or Augusta and to a lesser extent Ch 6 from Knoxville. I can almost always hear Ch 6 from Birmingham in the car on 285 between 75 and 85.

At home with the APS-13 and the Sangean HDT-1x there are times when I can get all three depending on which direction the antenna is pointed.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Re: Car radio on 87.7FM got "splashed" by 2 diff CH. 6's in one week...IN ATLANTA!!

The frequency for the audio of channel 6 in markets around the U.S. is just below 88 on the FM band.

 

[jal41]

Re: Car radio on 87.7FM got "splashed" by 2 diff CH. 6's in one week...IN ATLANTA!!

The frequency for the audio of channel 6 in markets around the U.S. is just below 88 on the FM band.

87.75 MHz to be exact.

I am not an engineer, but I do know that the audio carriers are generally 1/10th of the visual carrier (100kW in most instances for the visual carrier).

But, all that fun of hearing Channel 6 TV audio on an FM radio will be coming to an end next year, when the analog TV signals are cut off. The digital signal is just that...digital. Like analog TV's cannot pick up digital, the same holds true for analog radio. (And you will not be hearing digital channel 6 on an IBOC radio...they are entirely seperate systems).

 

[eacalhoun1]

Re: Car radio on 87.7FM got "splashed" by 2 diff CH. 6's in one week...IN ATLANTA!!

The frequency for the audio of channel 6 in markets around the U.S. is just below 88 on the FM band.

87.75 MHz to be exact.

I am not an engineer, but I do know that the audio carriers are generally 1/10th of the visual carrier (100kW in most instances for the visual carrier).

But, all that fun of hearing Channel 6 TV audio on an FM radio will be coming to an end next year, when the analog TV signals are cut off. The digital signal is just that...digital. Like analog TV's cannot pick up digital, the same holds true for analog radio. (And you will not be hearing digital channel 6 on an IBOC radio...they are entirely seperate systems).

Additionally, all of your multi-band radios that have TV audio will no longer work (the TV audio, anyway) after next February. I guess you could rig up one of the government coupon eligible DTV converters to your radio ;D But, it would be hard to see the on-screen set up menus on a radio, wouldn't it.

 

[DToTheJ]

Re: Car radio on 87.7FM got "splashed" by 2 diff CH. 6's in one week...IN ATLANTA!!

But, all that fun of hearing Channel 6 TV audio on an FM radio will be coming to an end next year, when the analog TV signals are cut off. The digital signal is just that...digital. Like analog TV's cannot pick up digital, the same holds true for analog radio...

That is, unless you live in San Diego! That's because the Channel 6 there is licensed to Mexico.

 

[nightmanager]

Re: Car radio on 87.7FM got "splashed" by 2 diff CH. 6's in one week...IN ATLANT

Going to miss TV DXing. Spent many a late nights and daybreaks scanning the dials for distant TV.

I was always happy getting Macon or Alabama. Channel 4 in Harlingen, Texas received in SW Atlanta was my personal best. Not bad for a cheap $49 Kmart b/w TV with the stock antenna.

What stopped my TV dxing: starting in the 80s, all the TVs and VCRs got "blue screens" in between solid channels. No more discerning a station ID out of the snow. No more fading signals. Nothing but a happy blue (and sometimes green, red, or pink) screen.

Bah.

 

[jabba17]

Re: Car radio on 87.7FM got "splashed" by 2 diff CH. 6's in one week...IN ATLANT

Going to miss TV DXing. Spent many a late nights and daybreaks scanning the dials for distant TV.

I was always happy getting Macon or Alabama. Channel 4 in Harlingen, Texas received in SW Atlanta was my personal best. Not bad for a cheap $49 Kmart b/w TV with the stock antenna.

What stopped my TV dxing: starting in the 80s, all the TVs and VCRs got "blue screens" in between solid channels. No more discerning a station ID out of the snow. No more fading signals. Nothing but a happy blue (and sometimes green, red, or pink) screen.

Bah.

I used to be able to get a test pattern for WALB out of Albany, GA (ch. 10) on Saturday mornings in Dunwoody in the 70s waiting for the cartoons to come on on Channel 17 (we didn't call it "TBS"--or WTCG, for that matter--back then). I was also able to get Channel 4 (NBC) out of Greenville in the early 80s up at Lake Lanier (Forsyth County)--that was 24/7, not just overnight or in the AMs.

Some TVs have a "video mute" function you can turn off to get rid of the blue (etc.) screens. Another trick is to add every broadcast channel to the auto-selected channels on your set. You can get all the snow you want that way.