Was in Michigan City this past week and noticed that almost all the Big Fm stations were staticy and being hammered by other stations. The only reliable signals were B96 and 101.1 FM News. Has there been any new stations popping up outside of the Chicago market lately? Also noticed 87.7 got out a long way! I picked it up in Michigan City quite well and got it all the way to Plymouth, IN!
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Chicago Stations received across the Lake
- Thread starter wilson1000
- Start date
This varies day by day...
I live on the north side of Chicago, but go to a beach 65 miles away, just east of Michigan City,
near Chesterton.
I used to live not far from there.
Before Chesterton High School put a station on 88.3, it was possible to hear the 100 watt WZRD
in Chicago at the beach. Also could hear the 7kw 89.3 WNUR right on the lakeshore at Evanston.
When they (WNUR) were off the air once, a station form Green Bay, Wisconsin came in.
Before iboc, it was easy here on the N side of Chicago to hear 3 or 4 Michigan FM stations on the car radio.
I live on the north side of Chicago, but go to a beach 65 miles away, just east of Michigan City,
near Chesterton.
I used to live not far from there.
Before Chesterton High School put a station on 88.3, it was possible to hear the 100 watt WZRD
in Chicago at the beach. Also could hear the 7kw 89.3 WNUR right on the lakeshore at Evanston.
When they (WNUR) were off the air once, a station form Green Bay, Wisconsin came in.
Before iboc, it was easy here on the N side of Chicago to hear 3 or 4 Michigan FM stations on the car radio.
wilson1000 said:
Last time I was in Michigan (several years ago) I was able to hear more Chicago stations than the ones you mentioned. There was some tropo this week. I wonder if that could have caused some interference?
That was my experience also in Galein.
Another weird aspect. Near Porter Indiana, the dunes shield local cellphone coverage at the beach for AT&T.
Local cells don't cover the area at the beach, but cells further up toward Michigan "sorta" do, so my phone switches
over to Eastern time zone until we go back over the dunes. This is 30 or so miles west of where Eastern time zone begins.
From this beach, Chicago appears to be buildings rising out of the lake, as the Illinois shore is below the horizon.
You can see the other shore fine if you climb a handy nearby dune.
Temperature inversions often allow you to see beyond the horizon, and make it appear as though a huge ore boat
is sailing in the sky up above the horizon. ( Not very far, but still looks impressive )
Local cells don't cover the area at the beach, but cells further up toward Michigan "sorta" do, so my phone switches
over to Eastern time zone until we go back over the dunes. This is 30 or so miles west of where Eastern time zone begins.
From this beach, Chicago appears to be buildings rising out of the lake, as the Illinois shore is below the horizon.
You can see the other shore fine if you climb a handy nearby dune.
Temperature inversions often allow you to see beyond the horizon, and make it appear as though a huge ore boat
is sailing in the sky up above the horizon. ( Not very far, but still looks impressive )
Tom, I had this weird aspect happen at central beach. (just east of beverly shores) My phone kept switching back from central to eastern time!
scanman1 said:
I can confirm this from having done the Chicago-Detroit drive on I-94 many times on business trips. Indeed things do vary, but the Chicago FMs are usually good until Benton Harbor-St. Joe. After 94 turns more towards a straight easterly direction beyond there, those stations begin to disappear rather quickly. As has been pointed out, this can vary depending on conditions.
Last week, tropo was widely experienced, hence the presence of distant stations, which would explain why the Chicago stations may have been getting trashed (or sounding static-y) on the eastern portion of the Indiana lakeshore.
When driving to Detroit how far do the big Chicago 50KWs go?
I know we can get WJR here, but I wonder how many of the Chicago powerhouses make it into the Detroit metro, or even across the border into Canada?
I know we can get WJR here, but I wonder how many of the Chicago powerhouses make it into the Detroit metro, or even across the border into Canada?
Dr Wayne said:
It usually takes tropo for me to hear Benton Harbor, but maybe others have better luck.
scanman1 said:
WFRN Elkhart, Indiana ocassionally makes it into the Chicago area.
scanman1 said:
And you should be able to get all of them in New Buffalo, every day. Based on my many travels to the SW Michigan area, I'd say that you lose the full-power Chicago FMs (under normal conditions) just past Benton Harbor heading north or east. That said, the slightest bit of tropo will send them much farther.
I was in that area about 10 days ago and picked up CLEAR signals from several Chicago FM stations around Holland, MI and kept them all the way southwest. There was some tropo in the area at that time.
With regard to Indiana and Michigan FMs, the slightest bit of tropo will bring FMs from Benton Harbor, Grand Rapids (especially 93.7) and Kalamazoo, MI as well as South Bend, IN right into Chicago. Suburban signals from NW Indiana (i.e. 95.9 and 107.1) are receivable every day. WFRN should come in on its original frequency along the south side lakefront quite often. Of course it can be heard on its network of translators whenever you care to (which is never for me).
BRNout said:
I can get WFRN, WCFL, or the one near Milwaukee depending on conditions.
radioman148 said:
When I'm going to Detroit, I'm usually just stopping off there briefly, and continuing on to Canada where I have more customers.
To answer your question, WSCR, WGN, and WBBM all make it across the border throughout the day. On a good car radio, once you get past Windsor and onto the 401 Freeway, all three are audible for about a half hour or so. Perhaps about 30-40 miles into Canada. WSCR starts getting chewed up by CFTR, WGN just dies (now that CHYR isn't there to clobber it). As for WBBM...it usually drops out near where the others do, but I've had it as far east daytime as near London, which is a little over 100 miles east-northeast of Motown. That part of Ontario is pretty much flat terrain, farm country, with pretty decent ground conductivity.
cyberdad said:
Thanks. It's been a long time since I've driven that way so my memory of which Chicago stations make it during the day was gone.
cyberdad said:
Thanks. I assume WLS doesn't make it. I'm a bit surprised that WLUP doesn't since they send more signal that way.
radioman148 said:
WLS doesn't quite make it. IIRC, it's still there, but very weak around DTW airport. But then can't seem to get through the Detroit-Windsor combined metro....about 20 miles of buildings and noise. If I think of it next month, I'll check to see if maybe it resurfaces briefly on the 401....a very open and basically noise-free road.
WMVP is pretty much gone by about Jackson, MI, then the 990 from Ann Arbor clobbers it.
FWIW, going the other way, the two Canadians CKLW and CFCO, pretty much make it across the entire lower peninsula. And, of course, so does WJR.
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