Daily Long-Distance FM Reception

[vibe]

I've picked up WHOM in the eastern third of Conn and in Northern RI on Rt 146 before the 94.9 WTAG translator in Worcester MA went on line. I picked it up near Saratoga Springs NY as well last summer. Got HOM in Yarmouth NS 3 years ago. I've always been a little curious how far out it gets so I try for it in out of the way spots.
Ave car radio, nothing special.

 

[kc0ltv]

Here in the Upper Midwest, 100 kW is normal if that's your idea of a "big signal". The Minneapolis stations, for example, can really get out; 150 miles isn't hard at all. Since I've gotten my XDR-F1HD (mid-July) I've been able to hear HD Radio on at least one or two of them almost every night, 124 miles away. Likewise, even on a dead tropo night such as this, I can hear 100 kw'ers WPNE in Green Bay to the east, a good 265 miles out, and KFBN / KDSU in Fargo, 231 miles to the west.

 

[kenrayc]

In Fresno I get KDFO 98.5 all the time from Bakerfield there more than 100 miles away ,along with TV KBAK 29 CBS afilliate,and KERO 23 ABC with no ploblem.there one station from Los Angeles KLOS that comes in about 50% of the time.

 

[crainbebo]

From Bothell, WA
I usually pick up to Wenatchee, KPQ 102.1 around 100 miles.
From Yakima, WA I have picked up Yakima, Pasco, Ellensburg and Hood River, OR (103.5 FM).
From Ellensburg I have picked up as far as Seattle (98.9 KWJZ) (85 miles)

 

[cyberdad]

From Bothell, WA
I usually pick up to Wenatchee, KPQ 102.1 around 100 miles.
From Yakima, WA I have picked up Yakima, Pasco, Ellensburg and Hood River, OR (103.5 FM).
From Ellensburg I have picked up as far as Seattle (98.9 KWJZ) (85 miles)

Seattle FMs are usually audible on a daily basis on a good car radio in the Vancouver, BC area.

 

[ddsparxx]

When I was in a house up on a hill just south of Waldport, OR, on the central Oregon Coast, I was able to hear KTEE 94.9's Coos Bay translator (K239AL 95.7) about 60 miles away as well as KSYD 92.1 in Reedsport. K239AL operates at 250w according to Radio-locator and KSYD's signal coverage area is smaller than usual for a class A station. The antenna used was a FM Reflect dipole used indoors.

 

[RFLA]

In South Louisiana I live in the Houma-Thibodaux metro area and 50 miles is where most stations come in from but there are three that come in daily from Lafayette at roughly 75 miles with nothing stopping them.

Most of the times I live between two stations on the same frequency roughly 80 miles apart so it switches between one in the Lafayette area and one on the Mississippi Gulf Coast on a few other stations.

Tropo is almost a daily occurance here also with 125 mile-200 mile stations coming in here daily at times like locals.

When I'm in Central Louisiana (Alexandria) the guaranteed reception station would be KNOE 101.9 at roughly 75 miles with almost daily appearance (with fading) of KIOC 106.1 Beaumont,Tx at 125 miles

I took a vacation to Montana this past summer and found a station that was 100 miles from my location that was not even supposed to have a signal there but I figure the mountain walls were bouncing the signal to me as most stations were 40 miles at most

 

[Mrwns]

Vancouver, BC
Seattle/Tacoma stations that come in regularly:
88.5 KPLU, 92.5 KQMV, 93.3 KUBE, 94.1 KMPS, 94.9 KUOW, 95.7 KJR, 96.5 KJAQ, 97.3 KIRO, 98.1 KING, 98.9 KWJZ, 99.9 KISW, 100.7 KKWF, 101.5 KPLZ, 102.5 KZOK, 105.3 KCMS, 106.1 KBKS, 107.7 KNDD
Most of these come in fairly well and in stereo for the majority of the time except for KQMV (Co-channel to CKCL-FM-1), KUBE (Adjacent to CKYE), KISW (Co-channel to CBU-FM-7 and CHPQ), KKWF (Adjacent to CKPK), and KBKS (Adjacent to CKAV-FM-2) which are receivable but have interference which makes it hard to listen to.

 

[radiorob2.0]

There is no long distance reception today here in Owensboro, KY due to the 80/90 drop-ins along with the translators and LPFM's importing "teaching programming". Going back twenty years ago in Lexington, KY WOKI Oak Ridge/Knoxville was a regular occurrence. Thirty miles south in Richmond WDEF Chattanooga would appear from time to time.

 

[ScottBurns]

Seattle FMs are usually audible on a daily basis on a good car radio in the Vancouver, BC area.
[/quote]

I think it depends on where in Vancouver. Near the airport - well south of the city - Seattle and Bellingham FMs are easy catches. However, it isn't until well north of Stanley Park that Seattle FMs are reachable again.

 

[Raider57]

from Nutley, NJ 10 miles from New York City

94.3 WJLK Asbury Park,NJ- kinda strong 41 miles away
95.9 WRAT Point Pleasant, NJ- a lot of interference with a pirate station- 45 miles away
96.7 WCTZ Port Chester, NY- 36 miles away weak
97.5 WALK Patchogue, NY 58 miles away- fades in and out
98.3 Magic 98.3 New Brunswick and KJOY 98.3 Hempstead, NY- WKJY hempstead is dominant both about 30 miles away
99.9 WEZN Bridgeport, CT 60 miles away- weak
101.5 WKXW Trenton, NJ 47 miles away- strong signal
102.3 WBAB Babylon, NY 43 miles- weak
106.3 WHTG Eatontown, NJ 37 miles away
107.9 WEBE Westport, CT- 54 miles away strong

sometimes I can get 95.1 WAYV Atlantic City 100 miles away, but a lot of stations are hard to get since New York is only 10 miles away

 

[Mrwns]

I think it depends on where in Vancouver. Near the airport - well south of the city - Seattle and Bellingham FMs are easy catches. However, it isn't until well north of Stanley Park that Seattle FMs are reachable again.

I believe anyone living south of 33rd Avenue, give or take .5 km, are able to receive the Seattle stations. North of 33rd, the Bellingham stations are weak, but still receivable, although KAFE is the best out of the three as it's not adjacent to another Canadian station, yet. It's not until you get into North Vancouver until the Seattle and Bellingham stations come blasting in again.

 

[crainbebo]

More loggings

From the Manastash Ridge near Ellensburg, WA
93.3: KRKL Walla Walla, WA (128 miles)
98.5: KEYG Grand Coulee, WA (96 miles)

From Wapato, WA
95.7: KKSR Walla Walla, WA (112 miles)
96.1: KLKY Stanfield, OR (81 miles)
107.7: KUMA Pendelton, OR (106 miles)

From Stampede Pass
91.9: K219BM Chelan, WA (69 miles) (farthest translator catch for me)
107.3: KFFM Yakima, WA (70 miles)
104.3: KAFE Bellingham, WA (111 miles)
97.7: KOMO Oakville, WA (92 miles)

From North Bend, WA
104.7: KDUX Aberdeen, WA (101 miles)

From Pacific Beach, WA
KING (98.1) and KWJZ (98.9) at 106 miles
96.7: KCRF Lincoln City, OR (155 miles)

-crainbebo

 

[stormy01]

Near Crystal Lake, IL

88.1 WVPE South Bend, IN 107 miles
88.5 WPFF Sturgeon Bay, WI 177 miles
89.1 WGLT Normal, IL 127 miles
89.3 WDLM East Moline, IL 124 miles
90.3 WBLV Twin Lake, MI 127 miles
90.7 WAUS Berrien Springs, MI 94 miles
91.3 WCSG Grand Rapids, MI 137 miles
93.7 WBCT Grand Rapids, MI 135 miles
94.9 WOLX Baraboo, WI 114 miles
99.9 WHFB Benton Harbor, MI 92 miles
101.5 WBNQ Bloomington, IL 131 miles
101.5 WNSN South Bend, IN 107 miles
104.7 WFRN Elkhart, IN 121 miles

 

[Tincap]

In South Louisiana I live in the Houma-Thibodaux metro area and 50 miles is where most stations come in from but there are three that come in daily from Lafayette at roughly 75 miles with nothing stopping them.

Most of the times I live between two stations on the same frequency roughly 80 miles apart so it switches between one in the Lafayette area and one on the Mississippi Gulf Coast on a few other stations.

Tropo is almost a daily occurance here also with 125 mile-200 mile stations coming in here daily at times like locals.

When I'm in Central Louisiana (Alexandria) the guaranteed reception station would be KNOE 101.9 at roughly 75 miles with almost daily appearance (with fading) of KIOC 106.1 Beaumont,Tx at 125 miles

I took a vacation to Montana this past summer and found a station that was 100 miles from my location that was not even supposed to have a signal there but I figure the mountain walls were bouncing the signal to me as most stations were 40 miles at most

I'll be in New Orleans, during the first week in August and I'll be looking forward to bandscans on both the AM and FM bands. From your location in Houma, are you able to pull in some interesting cross Gulf catches?

And more importantly (!) being in the heart of Cajun country, can you recommend a good local Cajun diner which may coax me south of New Orleans????

BG

 

[BRNout]

Near Crystal Lake, IL

88.1 WVPE South Bend, IN 107 miles
88.5 WPFF Sturgeon Bay, WI 177 miles
89.1 WGLT Normal, IL 127 miles
89.3 WDLM East Moline, IL 124 miles
90.3 WBLV Twin Lake, MI 127 miles
90.7 WAUS Berrien Springs, MI 94 miles
91.3 WCSG Grand Rapids, MI 137 miles
93.7 WBCT Grand Rapids, MI 135 miles
94.9 WOLX Baraboo, WI 114 miles
99.9 WHFB Benton Harbor, MI 92 miles
101.5 WBNQ Bloomington, IL 131 miles
101.5 WNSN South Bend, IN 107 miles
104.7 WFRN Elkhart, IN 121 miles

Stormy, you've got a couple of interesting ones in there to me - because I live just about 20 miles SE of you and get some different results.

For example, yes I have picked up WBCT, WNSN and WFRN whenever there's a bit of tropo going on. In fact, WBCT came in well almost all last weekend - despite WLIT being right next door. It was generally listenable as if it were in-market. However, day to day, I'm more apt to get WBFM Sheboygan on 93.7 and WDDW from the Milwaukee area on 104.7. WBFM is very weak and is only there sometimes. WDDW is weak, but I can usually pull it out with a bit of effort. The 99.9 frequency here is always WCPQ Park Forest, IL and 101.5 is open if there's no enhancement. I've never gotten WBNQ on that frequency; it's either WNSN or nothing.

This year, I have only once picked up Madison market signals down here. One Saturday night, there was strong ducting from that direction and I picked up WJJO 94.1 and WZEE 104.1 as strong as locals. WOLX was very weak and hard to pull in (WIIL and WLS-FM collectively mash that frequency) and WMGN came in pretty well. But that was the only time. Of course, you're quite a bit closer to them than I am. I know that WOLX comes in as far east as the western suburbs of Milwaukee on an average winter day, so I'm not surprised that you can get them.

 

[stormy01]

I know that WOLX comes in as far east as the western suburbs of Milwaukee on an average winter day, so I'm not surprised that you can get them.

It helps when WOLX's facilities are "grandfathered" that is, they applied for, were granted and built their facilities before the FCC created certain power and height limitations: http://www.fybush.com/sites/2008/site-080222.html [I believe the early- to mid-60's]

This is another article that makes for interesting reading about grandfathered FM's, though it doesn't mention WOLX: http://jeff560.tripod.com/fm-max.html

WOLX would now be under the current FCC rules a Class B (6.7kW ERP) or possibly a C3 (1.5kW ERP).

 

[radioman148]

I know that WOLX comes in as far east as the western suburbs of Milwaukee on an average winter day, so I'm not surprised that you can get them.

It helps when WOLX's facilities are "grandfathered" that is, they applied for, were granted and built their facilities before the FCC created certain power and height limitations: http://www.fybush.com/sites/2008/site-080222.html [I believe the early- to mid-60's]

This is another article that makes for interesting reading about grandfathered FM's, though it doesn't mention WOLX: http://jeff560.tripod.com/fm-max.html

WOLX would now be under the current FCC rules a Class B (6.7kW ERP) or possibly a C3 (1.5kW ERP).

Indeed WOLX has a great signal as I often listen to it when I'm driving from the Chicago area up to the Dells. They cover a very wide area.