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FM freq of the week-- 102.9

V

vibe

Well it's been a week since the LAST frequency of the week. I chose 102.9 since I get occasional reception from 3 different /stations/areas in my neck of the woods, Northbridge MA-40-45 mi SW of Boston and about 30 mi N of Providence RI.
I get the following:
1. A weak to listenable WDRC-Hartford CT -oldies from about 75 mi away. You can get this station to about Charlton MA,sometimes Auburn MA on the infamous Mass Pike but there are a lot of stronger stations with the same format.
2. A weak, but sometimes moderate Hyannis MA, WPXC (moderate under tropo light conditions from about 85 mi away.
3. Weak to listenable reception of WBLM Portland ME but mainly on the north facing hills. This is about 110-120 mi give or take. But the are a blaster at times
Yesterday I got a mish mash of all 3 where one station would win out for a minute or 2. Not unusual. Both Hyannis and Portland ME play a lot of the same songs-rock. I looked up Radio Locator and found that these stations come in well beyond the blue fringe contour. I imagine one can get 2 or 3 of them quite well with a good outdoor antenna.
I don't DX a lot and can't remember any others besides these 3 from my locale except for a Canadian FM whose calls I cannot remotely remember.
This is on a stock car radio a Bose Wave radio indoors certainly nothing special...
 
For me in Bothell, WA
102.9 is usually KNBQ Centraila, loud and strong.
In Union Gap:
Interference with 102.7 KORD in Pasco (Tri-Cities).

-crainbebo
 
About all I get on 102.9 unless we have sporadic E is Y-103 CHR from Decatour Illinois with the antenna turned west, if its turned east I get Urban station from Dayton Ohio,, I forget the calls. Both stations are about 150 miles away give or take.
 
102.9 is an interesting frequency here outside of (not in) Duluth. On a dead day, I can hear KMFG, Nashwauk, WI, about 60 miles away on my car radio. And on the antenna I usually can hear either KMFG or WLTE, Minneapolis, MN, 124 miles away. The HD on WLTE almost always comes in too (at least at night) - it's one of the easiest to receive from the Twin Cities area. With a tropo enhancement, WLTE will overtake KMFG on lesser setups. It's very rare for something else to break through WLTE (and there aren't many stations in KMFG's directions...not many listeners in the endless forests or swamps of Northern Ontario!), except for skip. The only skip log I have on that frequency is WVRK, Columbus, GA, which oddly enough I have a Youtube clip of, demonstrating the XDR-F1HD's RDS capabilities:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW2Kegs1BXs
 
Near Charleston, that is one of my best frequencies. I have picked up several different stations on the frequency, and it varies every day.

Sometimes, I get the 102.9 from Orangeburg (Gospel), which only comes in about 20 miles well from its transmitter, because it is only 3KW. More likely, I get the signal from Statesboro, WPMX, which comes in and goes out often, but with an external antenna, you can hear it mixed with QKI. Other times, Lite from Hickory comes in, and that can come through even during the fall and winter sometimes.

If you go N/NW of Charleston, WQKI comes in well starting around St. George.

One time last summer, I picked up WLTE from Minneapolis, during that great opening in July.
 
I've heard KNBQ on there a few times, very weakly--too weak to hear it in stereo, but strong enough to tell it's there. It usually ends up being jammed by KKCW's lower IBAC channel.
 
I can hear WKIK 102.9 (Class A 4kW) from southern Maryland about 55 miles away from my home. Weak reception in my first floor apartment. Sometimes I hear WOWI 102.9 from Norfolk when there's tropo.
 
From Danville, KY I used to get WDHT from Dayton ,OH, now WPBK from Crab Orchard,KY took care of that great station for me. UGHHH!!! Now it's Swap and Shop and a hodge-podge of genres thrown together like turkey hash. :mad: :mad:
 
This is nice DX frequency here in Poughkeepsie, NY, although IBOC sideband from WGNY-103.1 blocks weaker DX signals.

WDRC-102.9 Hartford, CT (55 miles) is 24/7 solid, but not really strong. (Tonight they are weaker than usual, but still the only signal on the freq.) Summertime brings WMGK Philly often (139 mi) , as well as occasional WMHR Syracuse (145 mi), and WBLM Portland, Me (227 mi). WCLX Westport, NY (171 mi) heard for first and only time this August. Also on tropo, CKLH Hamilton, ON (324 mi) has been heard, along with most-distant-ever tropo WFUR Grand Rapids, MI (609 mi). Although most Cape Cold FM's have been logged here, WPXC-102.9 Hyannis has NOT been heard... they are in the pretty much the same direction as WDRC. Nine stations have been heard on E-skip from eight states, most-distant being KDMX Dallas (1415mi).
 
A temporarily useful frequency here south of Indianapolis. WYGB vacated 102.9 a year ago and WXCH switched from 103.1 to 102.9. They operated with 500 watts Horizontal at 40' for a month or two & went dark. Soon enough, there'll be 6KW on that channel at less than 8 miles, but for now...

WDHT Springfield, OH is strongest

WXXB Delphi,IN is next

WBUZ LaVergne,TN is almost a daily visitor at 247 miles. My most distant regular.
 
Absolutely nothing but WDHT in the Dayton, OH area. I have pulled it on I-465 in Indianapolis (in previousn incarnations) as well as in Lafayette occasionally before WXXB/WNJY signing on. Also near Indianapolis I have pulled Y103 out of Decatur.
 
In addition to the 3 102.9's alluded to in the original post, i got a 4th 102.9 (today) but I didn't have a pen/pencil in the truck. It's ID was web radio 102.9 and references were made to Ghana. The music sounded African, possibly Carribean. I THINK this was a pirate/community station from Boston about 45 mi away. (I was on a tall east facing hill in Sutton MA). No sign of the station 2 hours later; just the mish mash I alluded to in the orig. post. The station was in stereo but sound quality was so so.
 
In Westchester NY, some spotty reception of WDRC (Hartford CT oldies) to the north and east but adjacent channel 102.7 (NYC) is too strong. The closest 103.1's are in Newburgh, NY (slightly closer to Albany than it is to Westchester) and Bay Shore, Long Island (western Suffolk County) so they would not be an issue in trying to DX at 102.9.
 
A very very weak WNCQ from Canton New York can be heard here in Ottawa on the very best FM receivers.

102.9 has been home to quite a few sations I've heard from KZIA in Cedar Rapids, to WSOY in Decatur to what was then Old Scho0l 102.9 (now KKND) in New Orleans.
 
Coldwater, MI:

Mostly a mish-mash of country WWWW-Ann Arbor (64 miles) and religious WFUR-Grand Rapids (78 miles).

I can also get:
WHQG- Milwaukee, WI- Rock- The Hog (170 miles)
WDHT- Urbana, OH- Hip-Hop- Hot 102.9 (150 miles)
WGL- Huntington, IN- Standards- The River (73 miles)

Tropo:
WSOY- Decatur, IL- Top 40- Y103- (251 miles)
WYFM- Sharon, PA- Classic Rock- Y103- (234 miles)
WXXB- Delphi, IN- Top 40- B103- (134 miles)
WMKC- Indian River, MI- Country- Big Country- (245 miles)

Overall, it's not a bad frequency.
 
Sadly, it's WPXC, but WBLM does trump them sometimes and I wnjoy it.
 
MikeStandardsFromIndiana said:
on 102.9 i get before Muncie Indiana got a Translator for 88,3 Klove i got Regularly either y103 from decauter IL or WDHT out of Dayton
Click to expand...

god i hate translators
 
Local Oldies formatted WDRC-FM 102.9 The Big D. It's sad how the mighty have fallen. Several years ago they dumped a lot of the 60s Oldies and replaced it with a bunch of 80s music. That didn't work and they began phasing the 60s back in. They also had horrible audio. Flash forward to 2008. There's a new GM and they began adding some pre-1964 songs. They brought in Tom Ray to fix the audio. They brought back Jerry Kristafer to do mornings. And they're began using the old school Big D name. Flash forward to October 2008. 17 year station veteran Doug Taylor is laid off due to budget cuts. And now the station is voice tracked 15 hours a day Monday-Friday. The only live weekday hosts are Jerry Kristafer in the morning 5AM-9AM and Larry Wells in PM Drive 2PM-7PM.
 
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