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FM Frequency of the week for Nov 12th: 87.75 and 87.9

Z

ZantennaG1

I'm very enlightened to see the turnout of last week's FOTW, and so hopefully we can keep it going for a while. Again, I want to alternate between commercial and non-commercial, this is a non-commercial week, and I also will skip 88.1 because you have heard enough of my rants for a lifetime about that one.

With that said, we now turn our attention to Franken-FM's, those unique TV stations that can be picked up on almost any radio. Their low-power also makes for a unique Dxing target.

From Cheyenne, WY.
A weak semi-local here is KXDP-LD out of Denver (3kw, 86 miles) who recently got an STA to have their video be digital and their audio be analog. My TV has never decoded them, even before the Analog shutdown, but my FM radios routinely pick this station up if they have a decent line of sight (that is, my deck).
During the July 1st, 2021 E-skip opening, I noted a 10 watt station from the San Francisco area, but it was on 87.9, interestingly enough.
 
Also, Happy (belated) Veterans Day to you all, and if you were in the military, I thank you for your service. 🇺🇸
 
87.75 Here in far northwest suburban Chicago. It's WRME, Chicago. Franken FM with a surprisingly decent signal.

87.9 "White Noise". Goes great with my noise cancelling headphones when I'm trying to sleep.
 
East Tennessee: 87.75. I've heard the Atlanta Spanish language Franken FM from way up at Newfound Gap and (5048 ft. Clingman's Dome (6600 ft) but not closer to ground.

87.9 We had a pirate around here (Cosby area) with 1950s Country and Alex Jones conspiracy stuff, picked up off the internet. When it was off, I pulled 87.9 out of Mexico but I'm not sure what.

Retro-other: 87.75 was channel 6 audio and from Indiana and Ohio, it was either Columbus or Indianapolis channel 6. Channel 6 DX on TV included Cuba in the 70s on ESkip, and the channel 6 in Jackson-Lansing Michigan. Had I relocated to Knoxville before the analog shutdown, I'd have WATE, the ABC affiliate at the bottom of the band.
 
gr8oldies said:
Retro-other: 87.75 was channel 6 audio and from Indiana and Ohio, it was either Columbus or Indianapolis channel 6. Channel 6 DX on TV included Cuba in the 70s on ESkip, and the channel 6 in Jackson-Lansing Michigan. Had I relocated to Knoxville before the analog shutdown, I'd have WATE, the ABC affiliate at the bottom of the band.
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Back in my youth in Bloomington IN, on rare occasions E-skip would override WFBM/WRTV Indianapolis on Channel 6. I remember seeing KUAT Tucson and WCIX Miami breaking through. Having a rotatable antenna certainly helped. :D
 
KeithE4 said:
Back in my youth in Bloomington IN, on rare occasions E-skip would override WFBM/WRTV Indianapolis on Channel 6. I remember seeing KUAT Tucson and WCIX Miami breaking through. Having a rotatable antenna certainly helped. :D
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Those were fun days. Were you able to get anything over-riding WTTV-4? I lived 50 miles north of Dayton with an antenna pointed south, and WLW-D/WDTN would get wiped out frequently, often by WPBT, Miami. Cuba would show up on 3 and 6.
 
gr8oldies said:
Those were fun days. Were you able to get anything over-riding WTTV-4
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Not that I remember. Channel 4 was (and is) allocated to Bloomington. It transmits from Trafalagar, which is half-way between Bloomington and Indy, which gives it a city grade signal into B'town. In the analog days, nothing could override its signal, at least not that I could receive.
 
KeithE4 said:
Not that I remember. Channel 4 was (and is) allocated to Bloomington. It transmits from Trafalagar, which is half-way between Bloomington and Indy, which gives it a city grade signal into B'town. In the analog days, nothing could override its signal, at least not that I could receive.
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From further north (Lafayette area) sometimes even on cable something else would sneak in. Eventually, thee owners built WTTK on channel 29 in Kokomo to feed the northern cable systems.
 
Thank you everyone for your replies! I can't imagine how good e-skip must've been before things got so crowded... and digital!
 
Before the digital transition in Dyersburg, TN I could get audio from WPSD NBC 6 in Paducah, KY regularly. After moving into the Jackson, TN area I could get WPGF-LP, a franken FM in Memphis until it shut down in July with other remaining franken FMs. They were part of a group of stations owned by Dr. George Flinn in Memphis, and had been simulcasting WHBQ 560 and later switched to classic rock. When they shut down they moved the format to WIVG 96.1, another Flinn station.

Of course there are probably plenty of people still using MP3 transmitters in their cars that use those frequencies. I did that until later cars I had with Bluetooth. And I'm surprised there aren't more pirate stations trying to use those frequencies.
 
anotherguyTN said:
Before the digital transition in Dyersburg, TN I could get audio from WPSD NBC 6 in Paducah, KY regularly. After moving into the Jackson, TN area I could get WPGF-LP, a franken FM in Memphis until it shut down in July with other remaining franken FMs. They were part of a group of stations owned by Dr. George Flinn in Memphis, and had been simulcasting WHBQ 560 and later switched to classic rock. When they shut down they moved the format to WIVG 96.1, another Flinn station.

Of course there are probably plenty of people still using MP3 transmitters in their cars that use those frequencies. I did that until later cars I had with Bluetooth. And I'm surprised there aren't more pirate stations trying to use those frequencies.
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I've heard those transmitters thinking they were DX more than once. I actually need to get one.
 
South Mississippi:

87.7: KXKW Lafayette, LA (Regional Mexican) sometimes comes in during tropo. When analog TV was still used, there was audio from WDSU NBC 6 New Orleans. There likely could have been other channel 6 stations but I did not know anything about e-skip then.

87.9: In the Saucier area, there is 87.9 EDM - "The Gulf Coast's Electronic Dance Radio!!!", which is what the RDS displays. It can be heard up to about 10 miles away and is very weak in Gulfport. During E-skip last May, I heard some stations from the Mexico City area on 87.5, 87.9 and 88.1 XHRED La Octava FM. When in heavy traffic areas and parking lots, I often hear car transmitters near the bottom of the band. Usually they're silent carriers, sometimes there's audio.
 
Central Washington:
87.9 - Spanish Christian and Mexican music pirate
 
About 10 years ago in Maryville, TN, I received 87.7 The Ticket from Denver, CO early in the morning. I do miss DXing on that frequency since most of those stations have shut down or gone digital. I also miss listening to the channel 6s in my car.
 
87.75 - Used to be KOIN audio. After 2009 when living in lower Cascade Park adjacent Washington state route 14, I used to occasionally pick up drivers-by transmitting on 87.7 or 87.9. (I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations has expired so I can post this: Wikimapia - Let's describe the whole world!) I now live about six miles north, in Orchards, closer to NE Fourth Plain Blvd and NE 117th Avenue/SR 503 than highway 14, but too far away from either to pick up anything at the power levels those devices nowadays usually run at.

I guess there have been underground/free-speech broadcasters here and there on 87.9 in west Dumptown but I haven't personally observed any. It's been close to 10 years now since I've last been there and IIRC didn't think to check then. The way things have been going the last 2 or 3 years it'll probably be another couple decades before the State Department declares it safe to travel there again.
 
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