I was thinking about starting this thread when I read @K.M. Richards' response to me about terrain blocking on another unrelated thread. I lived in Tujunga from when I was born (1963) until I was 9 (1972) with annual visits back there through 1978 for Christmas at my grandmother's house in the far western portion of the town. The last time I went through the town was in 1997 when returning to my Phoenix residence from a relative's funeral--my folks wanted to see how everything looked since we hadn't been there in a while.
Of all the places I've been, whether just visiting or living there, including westchester (where my undergraduate college is located), Tujunga has turned out to be the most unusual in terms of FM radio reception. It is so unusual that while I know that radio-locator.com doesn't get it right, I doubt that @Michi's maps or even the official maps used by the FCC get the town's FM reception right either. Why, you ask. Because Tujunga has really three different FM reception modes depending where you are in the town and the location of the FM transmitter to which you are listening. You see, Tujunga is built at the base and on the side of a mountain making the results for FM reception different in different parts of the town.
Since I don't have any other way to do this, I'm going to reference what I could hear based on street names. Those of you who have been there may know those names; otherwise I'd recommend looking at a map with geographical features to help you sort out what I am saying.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, the first reception area starts at Tujunga Canyon Road (I think it's road; it may be Boulevard) and extends eastward to the town directly to the east, La Crescenta. On the north, it begins a block above Foothill Boulevard (the town's main street) and extends southward to the lip of LaTuna Canyon, the town's southern border. In this sector, you can hear pretty much all of the Los Angeles stations clearly, including those on Verdugo and on Flint Peak. You will, however, have problems listening to any FM outlets with transmitters in the San Fernando Valley (94.3 and 88.5). There are a lot of businesses in this area and this is where we used to go shopping.
The second area runs from a block north of Foothill Boulevard to the town's northern border, and it runs eastward from Tujunga Canyon Road to the mountain that marks the town's eastern border. In this section of Tujunga, where I lived on Day Street, you could hear the Mt. Wilson FM outlets though they came in rather fuzzy. There were places in my old house where I could receive the 103.9 station from Englewood and KJLH (102.3) from Compton better than I could hear any of the Mt. Wilson stations. Of the NPR affiliates, KPCC-FM didn't get there at all and KCRW-FM could barely be heard. Fortunately, the Flint Peak and Verdugo transmitters could be heard quite clearly throughout this section of the town. Of the San Fernando-based transmitters, KCSN got to my old house okay but 94.3 did not. Also, the stations on Mohollen (not sure of spelling) Drive in Beverly Hills (98.7 now) did not make it in to this section of Tujunga well.
Finally, there is the third section of Tujunga which extends west/northwest (Foothill Boulevard runs northwest for a bit through here) to the Sunland border where Foothill Boulevard, Mt. Gleason, and Summit Rose Streets meet. From south to north, it runs from the lip of LaTuna Canyon (Tujunga's southern border) to the Angeles Crest/Forest Highway which is the town's northern border. The Mt. Wilson transmitters are fuzzy here even with the best receivers with the Flint Peak and Verdugo transmitters becoming rather fuzzy here as well. The Mohollen Drive transmitters are also fuzzy here but can be received better than the other two transmitter locations. The clearest FM stations heard here are the two FMs in the San Fernando Valley at 88.5 and 94.3 respectively. Also, the 95.1 frequency from Ventura was a regular pickup from my grandmother's residence, approximately 3 or 4 houses east of where Summit Rose St. ends at the intersection with Foothill Boulevard and Mt. Gleason Street. Because of where my grandmother's house was located, with a good receiver, I could (and did) catch some interesting DX--from 96.7 (now in San Paula) battling it out with KWIZ in Santa Ana to KTYD on 99.9 in Santa Barbara battling it out with San Bernardino's KOLA on the same frequency.
As I said at the top, of all of the places I've ever lived, either permanently or on vacation, Tujunga, because of its geography, had the most different FM reception issues I've ever experienced in a single town.
Of all the places I've been, whether just visiting or living there, including westchester (where my undergraduate college is located), Tujunga has turned out to be the most unusual in terms of FM radio reception. It is so unusual that while I know that radio-locator.com doesn't get it right, I doubt that @Michi's maps or even the official maps used by the FCC get the town's FM reception right either. Why, you ask. Because Tujunga has really three different FM reception modes depending where you are in the town and the location of the FM transmitter to which you are listening. You see, Tujunga is built at the base and on the side of a mountain making the results for FM reception different in different parts of the town.
Since I don't have any other way to do this, I'm going to reference what I could hear based on street names. Those of you who have been there may know those names; otherwise I'd recommend looking at a map with geographical features to help you sort out what I am saying.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, the first reception area starts at Tujunga Canyon Road (I think it's road; it may be Boulevard) and extends eastward to the town directly to the east, La Crescenta. On the north, it begins a block above Foothill Boulevard (the town's main street) and extends southward to the lip of LaTuna Canyon, the town's southern border. In this sector, you can hear pretty much all of the Los Angeles stations clearly, including those on Verdugo and on Flint Peak. You will, however, have problems listening to any FM outlets with transmitters in the San Fernando Valley (94.3 and 88.5). There are a lot of businesses in this area and this is where we used to go shopping.
The second area runs from a block north of Foothill Boulevard to the town's northern border, and it runs eastward from Tujunga Canyon Road to the mountain that marks the town's eastern border. In this section of Tujunga, where I lived on Day Street, you could hear the Mt. Wilson FM outlets though they came in rather fuzzy. There were places in my old house where I could receive the 103.9 station from Englewood and KJLH (102.3) from Compton better than I could hear any of the Mt. Wilson stations. Of the NPR affiliates, KPCC-FM didn't get there at all and KCRW-FM could barely be heard. Fortunately, the Flint Peak and Verdugo transmitters could be heard quite clearly throughout this section of the town. Of the San Fernando-based transmitters, KCSN got to my old house okay but 94.3 did not. Also, the stations on Mohollen (not sure of spelling) Drive in Beverly Hills (98.7 now) did not make it in to this section of Tujunga well.
Finally, there is the third section of Tujunga which extends west/northwest (Foothill Boulevard runs northwest for a bit through here) to the Sunland border where Foothill Boulevard, Mt. Gleason, and Summit Rose Streets meet. From south to north, it runs from the lip of LaTuna Canyon (Tujunga's southern border) to the Angeles Crest/Forest Highway which is the town's northern border. The Mt. Wilson transmitters are fuzzy here even with the best receivers with the Flint Peak and Verdugo transmitters becoming rather fuzzy here as well. The Mohollen Drive transmitters are also fuzzy here but can be received better than the other two transmitter locations. The clearest FM stations heard here are the two FMs in the San Fernando Valley at 88.5 and 94.3 respectively. Also, the 95.1 frequency from Ventura was a regular pickup from my grandmother's residence, approximately 3 or 4 houses east of where Summit Rose St. ends at the intersection with Foothill Boulevard and Mt. Gleason Street. Because of where my grandmother's house was located, with a good receiver, I could (and did) catch some interesting DX--from 96.7 (now in San Paula) battling it out with KWIZ in Santa Ana to KTYD on 99.9 in Santa Barbara battling it out with San Bernardino's KOLA on the same frequency.
As I said at the top, of all of the places I've ever lived, either permanently or on vacation, Tujunga, because of its geography, had the most different FM reception issues I've ever experienced in a single town.
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