Farthest FM regular?

[pianoplayer88key]

How about .... what's the farthest FM station you hear 24/7 with your best radio & antenna, even if that means you have to stand on the roof holding your radio over your head at arms length (if you don't have a roof-mounted antenna on a mast, that is)?

Mine would be 98.7 KYSR Los Angeles, CA, at 125.4 miles. Honorable mentions go to 91.5 KUSC, 92.3 KHHT, 94.7 KTWV, 95.5 KLOS, 100.3 KSWD, 101.1 KRTH (usually one of the strongest of the bunch), 101.9 KSCA, 102.7 KIIS, 104.3 KBIG, 105.1 KKGO, 105.9 KPWR and 107.5 KLVE, all around 120 miles.

The farthest one I semi-regularly hear would be 103.3 KVYB Santa Barbara, CA, at just under 212 miles. Often, though, co-channel QRM from KTMQ Temecula (51.6 miles) makes it tough. (The frequency was blank when checking a few minutes ago with the PL-606 inside the house. I didn't feel like going outside on the roof today, but I know both stations have been regularly heard up there.)

 

[tomservo]

Here on the Alabama Gulf Coast, the band is pretty crowded. The furtherest 24/7 catch would either be WMAH (MPB) or WMJY "Magic 93.7", both from the Biloxi area. It's about 83 air miles from there to here. If I expand to include daily but not constant signals, it falls to three stations from Hattiesburg: WWSL 100.3, WFFX 103.7 and Rock 104.5. They're all here nightly, even during relatively dead conditions. They're all 113 miles out.

 

[audiomusiclover]

For the central NC area for 24/7 reception, I believe WMIT (106.9) from the Mt Mitchel area would win out here. It is just over 30kW ERP but well over a mile above the surounding areas which help it in certain areas. I can receive it almost city grade from over 100 miles away east of Charlotte at all times. The dial has become more crowded but I used to receive it from over 150 miles continously in the central NC area near Ashboro, NC before another station turned up on the 106.9 frequency. I could also receive WSLQ (99.1) from Roanoke, Va, in the 1980's from 50 miles south of Greensboro, NC, which is probably over 150 miles away as well. Again, this was constant and the signals were too strong to fade. The added stations on the dial in this area have made hearing either of these stations more difficullt beyond 100 miles now though, but I am sure other sections of their contour go well beyond this distance even today. It is tougher to do in the non-oceanside areas.

 

[ScottBurns]

Charleston FMs are regulars deep into SC. The Charleston Class Cs, 92.5, 96.9, 103.5, 101.7 and 95.1 (and a couple others) are always there in Orangeburg, 75-80 miles from the transmitters. Any skip brings them into the Columbia metro.

They are usually in till at least Florence on I-95. I've heard several of them as far N as Lumberton, NC on 95, even in the fall and winter. To the south, they are in usually in Hilton Head and Bluffton, 80 miles away, and you can hear them a long way up the Grand Strand.

96.9 and 95.1 are usually good all the way to North Myrtle Beach because of their transmitter location.

From my visits to Hilton Head, the only consistent Charleston station is 95.1. That station has incredible reach. It is interesting to listen to the station duke it out with WAPE once in Georgia, especially between Brunswick and Savannah.

 

[kc0ltv]

The farthest station that comes in here in the outskirts of Duluth, MN is 103.1 KRVX "The Raven", serving Jamestown, ND from a transmitter located 283 miles from my receiving location. They are usually a very weak signal, fading in and out. What's interesting is the most reliable time to receive them seems to be during the daytime during LOW tropo conditions, as they are not as bothered by WLTE (or whatever the callsign is now)'s HD radio adjacent.