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DXing the Weather Band

mimo said:
I think it might be further than that. Watertown AM barely makes a sound here and FM almost never does. It's still quite a reach for the weather band to be that reliable here.
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I defer to you on the distance question. You're probably right.

IME, 790 is the best Watertown AM signal. It's good at the border, and my memory is that it's fairly reliable on at least part of the drive from there into Ottawa. Both on the 416 freeway, as well as highway 15 via Smith Falls. But I could see where it would be problematic in the metro. What's left of CJAB (800/Montreal) wouldn't help matters.
 
On Monday a good tropo opening to east TX brought me a new NOAA station, KXI55 on 162.500 from Onalaska, TX, at 225 miles. I was at work and made the logging on my CC Pocket radio around 12:30 when I went out to my car for lunch.

I heard weather observations for Tyler and Lufkin and the forecast for Lake Livingston. An ID was never given, but Lake Livingston is associated with KXI55 per the NOAA website.
 
Last Saturday I was at Enchanted Rock State Natural area in Fredericksburg, TX, which is about 50 miles N-NW of my home QTH. When I was at the top, 425 feet up, I was able to do a bit of weather band DXing with my CC Skywave. There didn't seem to be any significant tropo that day, but I logged WWG94 in Richland Springs (54 miles), WWG93 in Junction (57 miles), and WXK33 in San Angelo (117 miles). All of the signals were pretty clear.

After coming back down I was able to do some brief AM listening at sunset, and it was interesting to hear 540 KMLB in Monroe, LA, with a fairly decent signal and no KTSA splatter.
 
There might have been a little something going on Saturday. At least around here northwest of Chicago.

I was running a few errands in the car. I was listening to my local weather radio station KXI41, just to get the forecast. As I pulled into a supermarket parking space about three miles from the stick, I encountered a dead spot. It lasted about two seconds, but long enough to hear a couple of other WB signals emerge, then quickly get covered up. Unfortunately, I was "up against the clock", and didn't have time to check it out further. But in nearly eight years driving a car with a WB radio, this is the first time I ever heard anything break through on my local channel (6/162.500) that close to the transmitter.

My "normal range" with the WB car radio seems to be about 60 miles. In my case, that's Milwaukee. Which normally is in with a weak signal.
 
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cyberdad said:
There might have been a little something going on Saturday. At least around here northwest of Chicago.

I was running a few errands in the car. I was listening to my local weather radio station KXI41, just to get the forecast. As I pulled into a supermarket parking space about three miles from the stick, I encountered a dead spot. It lasted about two seconds, but long enough to hear a couple of other WB signals emerge, then quickly get covered up. Unfortunately, I was "up against the clock", and didn't have time to check it out further. But in nearly eight years driving a car with a WB radio, this is the first time I ever heard anything through on my local channel (6/162.500) that close to the transmitter.

My "normal range" with the WB car radio seems to be about 60 miles. In my case, that's Milwaukee. Which normally is in with a weak signal.
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Cyberdad, I've been meaning to ask what model of car radio you've got. I haven't seen one with the weather band before.

On Tuesday morning there was some awesome gulf coast tropo going on, and I logged my first out-of-state station, WXL72 in Demopolis, AL, on 162.475. The reception (on my CC Skywave) was brief, and the station was giving local observations for Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Columbus. It soon got covered up by semi-local WNG641.

Since I didn't hear an ID, I narrowed it down to four Alabama stations on that frequency, and an Internet search revealed that WXL72 targets the Tuscaloosa area. Also, I had received a Tuscaloosa FM station (as well as MS and FL stations) earlier in the morning. The distance of 665 miles more than doubles my previous weather band distance record.
 
jim-satx said:
Cyberdad, I've been meaning to ask what model of car radio you've got. I haven't seen one with the weather band before.
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It's a 2004 Mercedes ML 350 (SUV).Built like a tank. Made in Alabama. Factory base model stock radio. No added "bells and whistles" to it, just an AM-FM radio that includes weather band. I've never seen another vehicle with a WB in it, and I don't know if these are still available. Personally, I like having WB in the car. I think it's a good idea, and I use mine all the time. Its a good radio for WB and FM. Terrible for AM. It comes with Bose speakers, which sound fairly decent, but are actually nothing special.
 
cyberdad said:
It's a 2004 Mercedes ML 350 (SUV).Built like a tank. Made in Alabama. Factory base model stock radio. No added "bells and whistles" to it, just an AM-FM radio that includes weather band. I've never seen another vehicle with a WB in it, and I don't know if these are still available. Personally, I like having WB in the car. I think it's a good idea, and I use mine all the time. Its a good radio for WB and FM. Terrible for AM. It comes with Bose speakers, which sound fairly decent, but are actually nothing special.
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My first couple of X-5 BMW's had weather band radio capability as a stock feature (no audio upgrade package), but the smaller X-3 I have now does not seem to have it as it does not appear on the menu and scrolling the presets does not bring up WB. Online BMW forum posts say it can be activated with a code, but I'm too lazy and otherwise occupied to try to hack my own car!
 
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