FM Frequency Of The Week: 108.1 MHz

[Buckeyes2001]

Now that WENZ 107.9 in Cleveland is in HD, I can get a little bit of weak IBOC on 108.1 with my portable radio that tunes up to 108.5 with the antenna oriented just right. Otherwise nothing. I wonder what an FM station would actually sound like on an aircraft-band radio. If I can get a hold of an analog one, I'll have to try tuning down to 107.9

 

[trusty]

I wonder what an FM station would actually sound like on an aircraft-band radio. If I can get a hold of an analog one, I'll have to try tuning down to 107.9

Some very interesting statements are found in the "Airband" article at Wikipedia. Under "Modulation", it says:

Besides being simple, power-efficient and compatible with legacy equipment, AM and SSB permit stronger stations to override weaker or interfering stations, and don't suffer from the capture effect found in FM.

and under "Digital radio", it says:

Another factor delaying the move to any digital mode is the need to retain the ability for one station to override another in an emergency.

So, I linked to "Capture effect", where it begins by saying:

In telecommunications, the capture effect, or FM capture effect, is a phenomenon associated with FM reception in which only the stronger of two signals at, or near, the same frequency will be demodulated.

This is why, when I'm traveling on a hill near where I live, I get two FM stations fighting it out on 105.1. As I drive down the hill, I get one - then the other - then the first one - then the other - etc., but never both at the same time.


Another item I would like to know about is quality. In good weather, what is the quality of an AM broadcast on an FM channel?

 

[BigDave]

Nothing but bleedover from Hot 107.9 here in Woodstock

 

[Wright County Guy]

I've picked up some chatter on an analog radio back in the day (early 90's). We lived two miles from a small airfield.

 

[ftballfan]

In Allendale, it may be bleedover from WMUS (107.9) out of Muskegon

 

[Argyris]

You're probably thinking "Uhh....108.1 isn't a legitimate FM frequency" And you're right. It isn't. And most manufactured digital tuners only go to 107.9. But that hasn't stopped a few, shall we say, enterprising people from going, uh, one step beyond.....

I had a strange little cheap multiband radio made by Tecsun. The dial was digital, but the tuning was analog. That thing tuned every FM frequency correctly BUT, it also went as far up as 109.7! (on the opposite end, it went as far down as 74.9!) But most full analog radios can pick up 108.1 to about 108.5 pretty easily. Even though 108.1 is in the Aircraft band, I don't think I ever heard any aircraft radios at that low in their spectrum.

Since I think we already went through all the other FM frequencies, I thought I'd throw this out.

I do recall an old guy up the block from where I lived in Mountlake Terrace, WA who ran a pirate on 108.1 in the late '70s. He had it running for about six months, running Broadway/Show Tunes, then suddenly disappeared.

Have you heard anything on 108.1 (or up) in your areas?

So, Mountlake Terrace! Do you remember Magic 1510 KKZU from the early 80's?

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

The detectors in some radios seem to detect AM on the FM band, and intermittently get images from aircraft communications. I used to hear them when they sold combined audio units, off brands, at Kmart, in that department. Actually, it was pretty close to a fairly major airport, though there are no simple surface roads to get there, so I hadn't thought about it being that close. The expressway gets there, but there are no surface roads for miles that have an overpass.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Are there any of the car FM transmitters for USB, MP3 players, etc that can transmit over 108.1, even if it's not intentional? I know on the low end some can go as low as 87.5 or 87.7, which is what I used most of the time when I had one.

 

[cyberdad]

I used to get aircraft radio traffic just immediately above 107.9 on a couple of my radios. But nothing in the past fifteen years or so.

 

[KML0224]

Won't happen here in central CT. We have WFCS-FM 107.7 and their massive 36 watt signal from Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) in New Britain. Then there's WEBE-FM 107.9 (WEBE-108) of Westport (Bridgeport market) to deal with.

 

[Ai4i]

...(on the opposite end, it went as far down as 74.9!)

Analog television channel five's audio was at 81.74/75/76 and channel six's was 87.74/75/76.
The traditional Japanese FM band runs from 76MHz to 90MHz.
We expect you to take your radio to Tokyo and report back to us fully.