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Daily Long-Distance FM Reception

K

kc0ltv

How far out, on a normal basis, can you hear FM (or see TV) stations?

Here outside of Duluth, on a hill, I usually hear, no matter what time of the year (stronger in summer), at least weakly at night and in the morning, as far out as Ironwood, MI (WIMI 99.7, 101 miles) or maybe Park Falls, WI (WCQM 98.3, 108 miles) to the east, Minneapolis / Twin Cities (several stations at 124 miles, but 99.5 KSJN is the strongest and most reliable) to the south, Brainerd, MN (WJJY 106.7, 101 miles) to the west, and Fort Frances, ON (CKSB-9 89.1, 145 miles) to the north, though I haven't investigated the second to last as much and the last is a bit touchy and may not always be heard. This is on a stock car radio with the included whip from my driveway (elevation 100 ft). Tonight I'm getting many of the Minneapolis stations in with variable strength (99.5, 101.3, 102.1, 104.1, 107.1), despite the cold weather conditions.

Likewise, with TV (roof/side-mounted CM 4228 antenna on a rotator), I almost always can see the 5 MW station KSTC on channel 45 from 124 miles to the south, even when tropo conditions are apparently dead. Very rare is it that I can't see at least a trace of the signal there. DTV with decode is much rarer, though it seems like on half of summer nights the Minneapolis DTVs will decode on my WinTV-D.
 
WSTW 93.7 comes in well on top of a high rise building or in a car in New Brunswick, NJ about 80 miles away. WFPG 96.9 also comes in constantly from 90 miles away. WEBE 108 usually comes in all the time too from 100 miles away.
Sometimes in the summer, I can get several 100+ mile Class A stations all the time for a week.
 
Let me preface this by saying that I live in an HOA, so I cannot use outdoor aerials.

From my house in Mesa, Arizona, the only long-distance line-of-sight DT stations I get are from Mount Bigelow, over 8500 feet above sea level (about 95 miles from here), near Tucson, and only upstairs, in my bedroom. On FM, I DX at home with my JVC T-X 30, also in my bedroom, with which I use wire as the aerial. The furthest away line-of-sight FM station I can get, if I orient the wire the correct way, is KRFM 96.5, Show Low (Mix 96), on Porter Mountain, about 115 miles from here. Their antenna is at 7807 feet above sea level, and they are a Class C station with 100 kW, non-directional.
 
In central mass, (until jamn 94.5 put a translator in worcester) the mt washington, nh whom 94.9 was a regular visitor 7 days a week from approx 110-120 air miles. Even in the deep river valleys.
 
kc0ltv said:
How far out, on a normal basis, can you hear FM (or see TV) stations?

Here outside of Duluth, on a hill, I usually hear, no matter what time of the year (stronger in summer), at least weakly at night and in the morning, as far out as Ironwood, MI (WIMI 99.7, 101 miles) or maybe Park Falls, WI (WCQM 98.3, 108 miles) to the east, Minneapolis / Twin Cities (several stations at 124 miles, but 99.5 KSJN is the strongest and most reliable) to the south, Brainerd, MN (WJJY 106.7, 101 miles) to the west, and Fort Frances, ON (CKSB-9 89.1, 145 miles) to the north, though I haven't investigated the second to last as much and the last is a bit touchy and may not always be heard. This is on a stock car radio with the included whip from my driveway (elevation 100 ft). Tonight I'm getting many of the Minneapolis stations in with variable strength (99.5, 101.3, 102.1, 104.1, 107.1), despite the cold weather conditions.

Likewise, with TV (roof/side-mounted CM 4228 antenna on a rotator), I almost always can see the 5 MW station KSTC on channel 45 from 124 miles to the south, even when tropo conditions are apparently dead. Very rare is it that I can't see at least a trace of the signal there. DTV with decode is much rarer, though it seems like on half of summer nights the Minneapolis DTVs will decode on my WinTV-D.
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When I lived in Midland, TX, and went to college in Lubbock, TX, I listened to Dallas FM stations at a distance of 300 miles. Setup was a ten element double driven yagi antenna up about 30 feet, and a Heathkit AJ-15. That tuner is still able to reliably receive a station from Tulsa, OK from my home in Plano, TX at a distance of 300 mile using a similar antenna. Reception at these distances is characterized by deep fades lasting minutes, but is possible and reliable enough to enjoy the stations.
 
rbrucecarter5 said:
Reception at these distances is characterized by deep fades lasting minutes, but is possible and reliable enough to enjoy the stations.
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That pretty much describes how I used to listen every day to WHTQ 96.5 Orlando, FL in the early 1990s when I lived in Bradenton, FL (about 120 miles away). Reception was dependable, but could fade for several minutes. These days, listening from that location would be impossible since a local religious pest (translator) has popped up on 96.5 FM. Orlando DXing was very easy back then. Now the frequencies are covered up by new translators and new full power stations on adjacent frequencies.
 
From Coldwater, MI, reception of most Detroit commercial FM's was possible until the advent of IBOC and the arrival of LPFM's and translators in my area. Now, you can only hear WKQI (95.5) and WOMC (104.3) on a regular basis. These are each 100 miles, give or take a few, from my location.

Another one that makes the trip is 100kw WUGN (99.7) from 110 miles away. The breadwinner is 100kw WMBI (90.1) from Chicago, 155 miles away. This one will soon be a memory, as there is a CP for a 25kw station at 90.1 near my hometown.

Most translators and LPFM's get out pretty far in this region as well. Our dial isn't very crowded, so there isn't much stopping these stations. My local translators can be heard with a listenable signal from 20 miles out and can even be sniffed out of the static from up to 40 miles. Not bad for light bulb power.
 
Re the last post: very interesting comments. A lot of the big FM's that are/were easily receiveable way beyond the calculated areas for a certain level of reception are getting their real (vs theoretical) territories eaten up by the translators. The 94.9 Worcester translator took out a large chunck of WHOM"s (Mt. Washington NH) peripheral territory I didn't like their format (too bland for me) but it was fun to hear the local commercials. Maybe what WHOM should consider is find an open 94.5 frequency (just beyond their protected territory (but still where the station is listenable/available) and return the favor. I remember being in Yarmouth Nova Scotia and getting WHOM on the stock truck radio in my Ford Truck. I never calculated the distance but it must be in the 200-250 mi range. And it wasn't a fluke, HOM was there for all 3 days in Nova Scotia.

Re the post about Orlando's 96.5 no longer being available in Bradenton. the LPFW or translator or whatever the hell it is, thankfully fades out S of Venice and is easily receiveable in Englewood FL with a strong car radio.

On a side note, I had one of my presets set to 96.5; I thought I was listening to Orlando but the calls and local advertising indicated I had a station in the Cleveland-Akron OH area!

Nice post: I had no idea that 300 mi FM reception (w/ a lot of help from a good antenna) was possible although I remember driving in Kansas in the mid 1970's with a very sensitive receiver in the dash and one of those outside FM whip antennas and got consistent 100-150 mi (as the crow flies) FM reception. I'll bet one of the newer receivers can get 150-200 mi reception in that area of the country but 300 mi, whew!
 
vibe said:
Nice post: I had no idea that 300 mi FM reception (w/ a lot of help from a good antenna) was possible although I remember driving in Kansas in the mid 1970's with a very sensitive receiver in the dash and one of those outside FM whip antennas and got consistent 100-150 mi (as the crow flies) FM reception. I'll bet one of the newer receivers can get 150-200 mi reception in that area of the country but 300 mi, whew!
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Absolutely possible. My motivation was musical enjoyment, not QSL cards so it had to be dependable or I would have been back on AM. I have even documented cases of it in the car. There is a small stretch of I-10 just East of Lake City Florida where 97.1 Gainesville GEORGIA is absolutely dependable. Similarly, there is a stretch on the same highway about 50 miles East of Tallahassee where 101.9 from Orlando is absolutely dependable. There was a stretch of road between Deland and Daytona Beach where a 98.3 from South Carolina was dependable - although it wasn't quite 300 miles.

My first 300 mile DX was with a car radio on a 12V power supply in my house, hooked up to a homebrew antenna. When it proved to be repeatable and dependable, I quickly realized the implications, and started purchasing the best system I could on a limited budget. And it worked!

I should mention the common factor here is flat terrain, high power, and tall towers at the station.
 
Coming from the Northeast U.S. with hilly terrain and lower powered FM's I was amazed how far FM can get out in parts of the country like FLA. (I would guess most people in New England live in the valleys w/ poor reception).
You can get the audio on Ch6 in Augusta GA and Tallahassee/Thomasville GA quite well for at least 100 mi in all directions.
There's a station broadcasting N of Sarasota (The Bone 102.5) that can be heard reasonably well to and thru Naples. That's a haul! And there are others.
That's why these translators really pi$$ me off because a lot of them are pray per view if you know what I mean.
 
Many summers in condos on the beaches near Pensacola, we'd regularly listen to 95.7, (then)WTKL from New Orleans. It would fade from time to time, but was still usually pretty reliable...especially considering the stick was nearly 200 miles away.

Better living through tropo!
 
Here on the Gulf coast of the Florida panahandle tropo is almost continuous. It's very rare not to hear the 100kw stations in the 250 mile range. A few stations that can be heard almost any day in the mornings and evenings beyond this are 102.9 KAJN in the Lafayette, LA area 343 miles, WMXQ Jacksonville, FL 303 miles and 97.1 WSRV Gainesville, GA 302 miles.
 
Reg the last 3 posts-south of Tampa the tropo is a lot less frequent. It's only rarely that I can catch the panhandle FM stations from about 300-350 mi. I have a TV hooked up to a 99 cent bow tie and once the Tampa stations (75 mi) come in pretty clear and the Orlando stations (125 mi) appear fuzzy it's time to play with the radio a bit.
 
vibe said:
On a side note, I had one of my presets set to 96.5; I thought I was listening to Orlando but the calls and local advertising indicated I had a station in the Cleveland-Akron OH area!
Click to expand...

That would be 96.5 Kiss FM WAKS out of Cleveland. You caught that on e-skip.
 
From West Central Ohio before all the 80-90s, iboc, translators and tropo, I might have the larger Detroit FMs for a month straight. Heaven was connecting a stereo to a cable tower (back when they had "all-band" technology instead of just selected FMs they fed to you). I had Cleveland, Detroit, Cincy, Lexington, KY and when the band opened up, many more (this from Kenton, OH). Today my most regular distant stations are 98.1 The Bull out of Lexington, KY (when local translators or Defiance, Oh isn't in) and WGAR 99.5 from Cleveland, with the occasional WOMC or WRIF, Detroit. Before all of the K-Love/Air1/Radio U translators came on there were many more possibilities, with a regular one being 103.3 in Ashland, KY.
 
This was in the early 80's, but I used to be able to get WDJC 93.7 in Birmingham at night at Dyersburg, TN, which was about 300 miles away. This was on a stereo receiver that I had connected to a TV antenna that was about 30 ft up, and it was after 10 PM, when WKBL 93.5 in Covington, TN had signed off for the night. I was able to do this until later in the 80's when WTKB in Atwood, TN, about 40 miles away, came on at 93.7, and WKBL started running 24 hours.
 
Since putting up a medium-sized FM yagi (APS-9B) on my roof, my normal reception range has been expanded way beyond what I wrote in the original post. Now, I can usually hear (at least in the last month)

* To the east, WPNE 89.3 Green Bay, 264 miles, 100,000 watts, varying strength, sometimes not there when KCMP Northfield, MN is strong
* To the south, KFIL 103.1 Preston, 210 miles, 3,500 watts! Generally weak, sometimes decent strength. Also Mankato (strong), La Crosse, Rochester, etc., and KYTC Northwood, IA comes in almost regularly at 231 miles.
* To the west, KFBN 88.7 Fargo, 231 miles, 100,000 watts, and very faintly but quite reliably, KRVX Wimbeldon, ND (281 miles) and KVMI Arthur, ND (239 miles)
* To the north, Thunder Bay comes in periodically, but very weak
 
Hallelujah 94.9, Little Rock. (I keep forgetting the call letters) About 300 miles. Weak, and fighting with K-Love from Ripley; Waynesboro; and WYNG Mt. Carmel, but in there every few minutes.
 
In Charleston, just using a car radio and my Grundig S350, we can get many long-distance FM radio stations from several different markets every day.

From northernly directions: WCOS 97.5 Columbia (very weak signal usually, but any skip brings it to a good signal, 115 miles). WYAV 104.1 Myrtle Beach (usually comes in with an average signal, 80 miles), WEGX 92.9 Dillon, SC (usually comes in with a turn of the antenna, because of translator, 120 miles). WEKL 105.7 Augusta (comes in weakly here, but go 20 miles inland and it comes in well, 120 miles).

WWQQ 101.3 Wilmington (comes in through the noise almost every day, 147 miles). 99.9 often comes in, and before our 102.5 added IBOC, 102.7 from Wilmington came in every day during the summer. Most of Columbia's FMs come in almost every night, and I can also get 101.9 from Gastonia/Charlotte almost every night, mixing with Orlando.

From the south: Any of the big Savannah FMs (96.5, 97.3, 102.1), even the smaller ones like 104.9 and 105.3, with varying clarity (75-105 miles). WSOL V-101.5 from Brunswick, 170 miles (comes in strong enough that people sometimes blast it out of their cars). 102.9 the Point from Jacksonville, 195 miles (comes in almost any summer day except when Statesboro cuts through). Sunny 105.9 and 107.7 from Orlando (average nighttime signal, at least three times a week) 275 miles, and 105.1 from Orlando comes in less than that, but 295 mi.
 
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