DXing & Strange Weather Patterns Today

[RK]

I was driving through Duryea and Pittston this afternoon (Saturday) about 4:45 PM and was listening to Y-106.5 FM, then all of a sudden the crystal clear signal I had been listening to vanished, and it left me thinking SH*T,
I bet another translator was installed by a religious station, thus killing Y-106.5 forever...

This "new" station began and quickly fully took over WFYY. It was apparent I was now listening to a Classic Rock station! Immediately I thought maybe Shamrock purchased yet another translator frequency for Rock107, however I heard the call letters after Aqualung by Jethro Tull finished playing and I heard a very well produced liner for:

KFMC-FM 106.5 MHz
Fairmont, Minnesota !!!!

What is causing this to happen? (Not that I'm complaining), because that's a darn good station!
I listened to the station for some 15+ minutes.

Then (going down to 106.3 on my radio)...

WFAF-FM 106.3 MHz
Mount Kisco, New York

Came onto the radio on 106.3 and finally a 3rd "unnamed" Classic Hits station somewhere off Finally another station off of U.S. Route 52 West came in loud & clear on my radio on 106.3.

Can conditions in the atmosphere "bounce" around and be received very far away???

Curious to hear others thoughts.

 

[notalkallstatic]

I know an AM signal can do that. For instance, a friend of mine was listening to the AM band several nights ago in the Scranton area, and picked up WSB Radio 750AM from Atlanta, GA. He told me it was as clear as listening to it in Metro Atlanta.

But I didn't think FM could actually do that...

 

[w9wi]

KFMC-FM 106.5 MHz
Fairmont, Minnesota !!!!

What is causing this to happen? (Not that I'm complaining), because that's a darn good station!
I listened to the station for some 15+ minutes.

Sporadic-E. One of the atmospheric ionized layers responsible for long-distance nighttime AM reception has become briefly much stronger than normal, and capable of reflecting FM signals for a few minutes. Distances of 600-1,200 miles are not particularly unusual. (shorter and longer distances sometimes happen. I've heard stations as close as 400 miles and as far as 1,700.) DX usually only lasts for 2-30 minutes for any given target area before either shifting somewhere else or dying out altogether.

Sporadic-E always starts at lower frequencies (CB, TV channel 2) and moves up. Good openings can reach the FM band. The highest recorded affected frequency is 222MHz, a ham radio frequency just above TV channel 13. Sporadic-E has never affected UHF TV. (so if you have DX on UHF it's something else)

Science doesn't know what causes sporadic-E. There seems to be some correlation with severe thunderstorms at either end of the path, or at the midpoint. It's seasonal, usually getting cranked up around mid-May and fading out around mid-August with a "sub-season" around Christmas.

The Mt. Kisco reception was not sporadic-E, it's far too close. Probably tropospheric refraction, bending in a much lower atmospheric layer.

 

[nepa_radio]

ya i was listening to 106.3 in downtown Scranton and i got the classic hits station it's happened to me to where i've gotten FM from that far of a distance

 

[Roger]

One summers in the past I was picking up WXXL 106.7 from Orlando, FL and some other stations from the Orlando area also one fall in the past I was picking up WTHT 107.5 from Portland, ME. The call letter WTHT are now with 99.9 I was also picking up some other stations from the Portland area.