Caught KGSR 93.3/Austin, TX with a very clear signal for a few minutes about 30 minutes ago. Heard this all the way from Vermilion, OH. Anyone else getting good FM e-skip this evening?
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FM E-skip today 6-25-11
- Thread starter Buckeyes2001
- Start date
spunker88 said:
Shoot, you're just south of me, what were you picking up?
Tropo was doing its thing this morning (9:30am), with Rochester (100.5 WDVI ~ 'The Drive') and Buffalo (107.7 WLKK ~ 'WBEN-930' relay) visiting in from the west and semi regular Burlington VT (WVPS 107.9) shoring up the east. Still...no ES for me this season...
~BG
It was a mixed bag, southern signals early on then it switched to midwest and even a few unid Canadian signals. When the MUF died down from 8 to 9 I grabbed my Tecsun PL-390 and checked to see if there was any VHF DX and was getting something on channel 3 (65.75mhz) so I grabbed my cheap little 5" B/W TV and got a clip of what I think is Radio Canada. It had the CBC logo but was French. It may have been CBWFT but either way it was a nice catch since I don't really have a DX grade TV setup and was only using bunny ears. Here's a youtube clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Om3SrPnh8
From 9 until 10 the FM band opened back up and the MUF went all the way up. I got KNCM in HD for a few seconds and a bunch of other signals from Minnesota and South Dakota mostly. I did also have a few out of the ordinary Canadian FMs which were probably ES, a CBC Radio 1 station on 92.7 which is usually FM talker WQTK and something in French on 89.9 which is usually WRVO Oswego, NY or Hot 89.9 Ottawa.
When the MUF went below FM at 10 I checked VHF again and channel 3 was still there but fading.
I've also started doing unattended recordings for when I'm not home. I use a Sony Digital Voice Recorder which will record stereo via its mic input. If you have 2 radios you can record one on left channel and the other on right with a custom patch cable. It records to MP3 format and then all I have to do is import the file into a program like Audacity or Total Recorder which will analyze the audio and you'll be able to see peaks in the audio when stations come in. Find a really clear frequency (I use 93.7 the nearest station is Buffalo, NY and I'm near Watertown, NY) and record.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Om3SrPnh8
From 9 until 10 the FM band opened back up and the MUF went all the way up. I got KNCM in HD for a few seconds and a bunch of other signals from Minnesota and South Dakota mostly. I did also have a few out of the ordinary Canadian FMs which were probably ES, a CBC Radio 1 station on 92.7 which is usually FM talker WQTK and something in French on 89.9 which is usually WRVO Oswego, NY or Hot 89.9 Ottawa.
When the MUF went below FM at 10 I checked VHF again and channel 3 was still there but fading.
I've also started doing unattended recordings for when I'm not home. I use a Sony Digital Voice Recorder which will record stereo via its mic input. If you have 2 radios you can record one on left channel and the other on right with a custom patch cable. It records to MP3 format and then all I have to do is import the file into a program like Audacity or Total Recorder which will analyze the audio and you'll be able to see peaks in the audio when stations come in. Find a really clear frequency (I use 93.7 the nearest station is Buffalo, NY and I'm near Watertown, NY) and record.
spunker88 said:
Some nice catches there. I'd wager that the CBC Radio 1 on 92.7 you were hearing (no luck here, WQTK is a local) could be Brandon MB, since you were pulling in (a probable) Winnipeg on your Channel 3. As for 89.9 (Hot899 is another local for me), SRC's Espace Musique broadcasts in Winnipeg on that frequency. Since you couldn't get a positive ID on these two, you'll have to be satisfied with a 'maybe', but there's a good chance that these may have been your visitors.
~BG
I got a good amount of US IDs. I tend to skip national FM formats that are hard to ID like NPR in the US and CBC in Canada. You can usually get a top hour ID but with translators it can be a pain to find what signal you are getting.
Most of my tropo is Canadian usually from Montreal to Toronto and all points in between so I always think Canadian stations may only be tropo. Tropo has been pretty strong here lately, its usually the Ottawa stations that come in the loudest. The strongest signal always seems to be 94.9. It was actually causing interference to a translator that was supposed to be relaying a 94.7 signal near Watertown. Ive also witnessed a bunch of NCPR translators start relaying some garbled French station during some strong tropo, but I think many of these translators are microwave fed now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tipuI54HnUI
Most of my tropo is Canadian usually from Montreal to Toronto and all points in between so I always think Canadian stations may only be tropo. Tropo has been pretty strong here lately, its usually the Ottawa stations that come in the loudest. The strongest signal always seems to be 94.9. It was actually causing interference to a translator that was supposed to be relaying a 94.7 signal near Watertown. Ive also witnessed a bunch of NCPR translators start relaying some garbled French station during some strong tropo, but I think many of these translators are microwave fed now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tipuI54HnUI
spunker88 said:
Yes, I've watched your 94.9 clip earlier in the day, spunker. I have family who listen to that translator (WMHI Cape Vincent NY)...uuuh...religiously. Up here, it gets squeezed very much by the 'RockDétente' (CIMF Gatineau QC) seen/heard in your vid, along with the TIS coming out of Brockville on 94.5.
Lots of Montreal stations this morning (including RockDétente CITE 107.3), many of them with RDS locking on, picked up from my 'black hole' (the car is usually a better place for FM DX).
I hope to have my FM6 up soon. It wont be standing very tall, with the boom sitting at about 25' above ground. Ultimately, I'm installing it to lock in on a consistent, static-free, signal from (Classic FM) 90.9 WJNY (which gets pestered by the much more powerful adjacent CBOF-FM 90.7), but the mast will be rotatable, so I'm hoping for improvements across the band. Especially this time of the year!
~BG
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