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FM Dx'ing from Alki Beach, Seattle

S

ScottBurns

A question for Seattle-area DX'ers. I recently had the pleasure of DX'ing from Alki Beach. The Victoria and Minaimo stations were mostly clear and, in fact, more clear than the local Seattle FMs (at least from a Walkman). Is this normal? Or was there some tropo in the air?
 
It's normal. If you are on the Puget Sound beaches, the water serves as an "amplifier." Seattle stations are multipathed due to the hills, but Victoria, Bellingham, Olympia, Nanaimo, Vancouver BC are enhanced due to line-of-sight.
 
Thank you! Sorry for butchering the spelling of Nanaimo. Of the areas you mentioned, the only place from which I did not pick up anything was Olympia. I was just surprised how weakly the locals came in at Alki. What a beautiful place, by the way.
 
ScottBurns said:
I did hear KYNW. Wasn't that station once Country? I vaguely remember that from my last visit to Seattle.
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They were once KNBQ 102.9 (Q-Country). They could be heard around Seattle, all of the way out to the coast, and deep into the Olympic Peninsula. I always thought their coverage was impressive.
 
fordranger797 said:
They were once KNBQ 102.9 (Q-Country). They could be heard around Seattle, all of the way out to the coast, and deep into the Olympic Peninsula. I always thought their coverage was impressive.
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I could get them in various areas around Portland until a co-channel translator was added, same with 97.7 but first adjacent full power station this time.
 
I also DX'd from the beaches of Vancouver - including Spanish Bank - and the same pattern emerged. Lots of Ninaimo stations, and lots of Bellingham stations - but little from Vancouver itself.
 
ScottBurns said:
I also DX'd from the beaches of Vancouver - including Spanish Bank - and the same pattern emerged. Lots of Ninaimo stations, and lots of Bellingham stations - but little from Vancouver itself.
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Sounds about right. The terrain in the northwest region is not very forgiving to broadcasters. If you were to drive through Seattle down by Pike Place Market, you would notice a dramatic drop in performance thanks to terrain blocking Cougar and Tiger Mountain. I always thought that Seattle was a unique market due to the fact that we do have our FM towers at an impressive HAAT accompanied by a high ERP.
 
I was once in Pike Place Market and one of the stores was playing KGY-96.9 (now KYYO) on a little boombox. Clear as day. KMPS would sound like absolute crap, static-filled multipath. KXXO is also huge down there as well, and I've even heard KSWW 102.1 near the Waterfront before.
 
fordranger797 said:
Sounds about right. The terrain in the northwest region is not very forgiving to broadcasters. If you were to drive through Seattle down by Pike Place Market, you would notice a dramatic drop in performance thanks to terrain blocking Cougar and Tiger Mountain. I always thought that Seattle was a unique market due to the fact that we do have our FM towers at an impressive HAAT accompanied by a high ERP.
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David Eduardo will probably tell you that all the primary Los Angeles stations have extremely high HAATs and are grandfathered.
 
There are a few places in the metro where the locals are cut and the Canadian stations come in better. Alki is one. the north slope of Issaquah hill is another.

Of course, with the band more crowded now than when I used to tune around the FM band, it could have changed.
 
Edmonds, at Marina Beach Park or Brackett's Landing. Canada, Bellingham, etc. WAY stronger than Seattle. Same reason as Alki, hills 400 feet high to the east, wide open Puget Sound to the west. I've gotten Nanaimo and Sechelt BC (CKKS-104.7 with 350w) from there. May have had Gibsons BC (CKAY) but need to check the log.

-crainbebo
 
fordranger797 said:
It seems like there are also a lot of locations that you can pick up Portland, OR stations if you have the right terrain.
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I was up in the Olympics once and Seattle was completely blocked but I could get just about everything from Portland. It seems like these were AM stations, some not very powerful but it was about 40 years ago so I'm not sure.
 
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