I took a trip to Fayettevile, AR to visit a friend for a few days. I listened to FM100 all the way to Little Rock as I was driving through it got kinda fuzzy so I changed the station. I got to Russelville, AR (about 70 miles on the other side of Little Rock) and thought "I doubt it but I'll see if it picks up here" so I hit preset number one on my radio and I heard Jill Bucco's voice loud and clear! I listened all the way to Clarksville, AR (100 miles other side of LR) and it just faded away. I thought that was interesting so I thought I would share. I have picked it up as far north as Hayti, Missouri before and almost to Nashville. Anyone else care to share? Thanks
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FM100 picking up strong in Russelville, AR
- Thread starter J_g86
- Start date
J_g86 said:
Do they still run close to 300KW?
J_g86 said:
Well they definitely get out a big signal. What's their HAAT?
HAAT is just over 900 feet.
Don't get too hung up about the output power. The difference between 100 kW and 300 kW is only about 4 dB. That really isn't that much. And, it's only in the horizontal plane -- chances are, your car radio's antenna is vertical.
It's much more important that to the west, 99.7 is quite clear. Toward Nashville or Jackson, MS, the situation is different. FM100, for example, gets torn up pretty badly south of Grenada, MS.
DE
Don't get too hung up about the output power. The difference between 100 kW and 300 kW is only about 4 dB. That really isn't that much. And, it's only in the horizontal plane -- chances are, your car radio's antenna is vertical.
It's much more important that to the west, 99.7 is quite clear. Toward Nashville or Jackson, MS, the situation is different. FM100, for example, gets torn up pretty badly south of Grenada, MS.
DE
> It was some sort of wierd skip.
Nothing particularly weird.
Skip (well, refraction, really) off the E-layer happens every Summer. This sort of thing starts happening with some degree of regularity from mid-May until (roughly) early August. It's still mighty cool, though.
I can give many examples, but perhaps my recent favorite was one Sunday when I got off the air at Graceland. All the way home to Germantown, I was hearing South Florida FM all the way to the top of the band in full HD. The only problem -- there were so many stations, they were tripping over themselves. 106.7, for instance, was constantly switching between Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando -- IN HD!
Fortunately, if you get HD lock, you ID the station. I IDed some 15 stations just in the short ride.
Remember, though, that the door swings both ways. As Memphis was hearing SFL, SFL was hearing Memphis. Yup. FM100 was making it to Miami.
-DE
Nothing particularly weird.
Skip (well, refraction, really) off the E-layer happens every Summer. This sort of thing starts happening with some degree of regularity from mid-May until (roughly) early August. It's still mighty cool, though.
I can give many examples, but perhaps my recent favorite was one Sunday when I got off the air at Graceland. All the way home to Germantown, I was hearing South Florida FM all the way to the top of the band in full HD. The only problem -- there were so many stations, they were tripping over themselves. 106.7, for instance, was constantly switching between Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando -- IN HD!
Fortunately, if you get HD lock, you ID the station. I IDed some 15 stations just in the short ride.
Remember, though, that the door swings both ways. As Memphis was hearing SFL, SFL was hearing Memphis. Yup. FM100 was making it to Miami.
-DE
DeadElvis said:
E skip can happen with stations running much less power. In fact some with very little power if conditions are right.
> E skip can happen with stations running much less power. In fact some with very little power if conditions are right.
Yup. Of course, when you think about it, that Class C3's IBOC signal I got from FL would only be ~250W (20 dB down from the main carrier). I have seen may loggings by others of LPFMs at just 100W.
Being a ham, though, in my world, that's still a lot of power. Heck, I have worked SSB trans-continental with as little as 1/10 of a Watt (100 mW). I have worked narrow FM on 52 MHz off a handheld with the attached duckie at just 5W via E-skip.
It really doesn't take much when the band is up.
Fun.
DE
Yup. Of course, when you think about it, that Class C3's IBOC signal I got from FL would only be ~250W (20 dB down from the main carrier). I have seen may loggings by others of LPFMs at just 100W.
Being a ham, though, in my world, that's still a lot of power. Heck, I have worked SSB trans-continental with as little as 1/10 of a Watt (100 mW). I have worked narrow FM on 52 MHz off a handheld with the attached duckie at just 5W via E-skip.
It really doesn't take much when the band is up.
Fun.
DE
I grew up in Russellville. There are several large hills where FM 100 is no problem to listen to any night of the week. Nearest 99.7 is KBTN in Joplin, or the new 99.7 move-in at Mustang, OK. So you can hear it a lot in Western Arkansas.... 104.5 is the same way.
DeadElvis said:
Exactly my point. When the bands are hot power almost doesn't matter.
Media Mogul said:
I used to spend a great amount of time near Nashville, AR. For years I listened to FM100 at night there using my aunts TV antenna which was always pointed south at Shreveport. No Rotor or way to turn it unfortunately.
K-104 in Dallas was another easy catch there on 104.5.
Nashville/Murphreesboro has a 99.5 now. No more DXing FM100 in SW Arkansas.
Michael said:
How many air miles were you from Memphis?
Michael said:
That's a good haul.
FUN said:
How many air miles is that?
Grapevine said:
If that's true, why is Olsen still on in the morning?
The guy has absolutely no talent.
Dyersburg to Germantown is about 70 air miles. I've had much better luck getting WMC in Dyersburg or the Missouri bootheel than that Dyersburg station in Memphis.
I was under the impression that WMC had been running lower power for some time due to anteanna problems. Did they get that all sorted out?
Down here in Grenada the 99.7 out of Jackson is usually what's present; it really kills WMC most of the time. If anything, we get 104.5, 98.1 and 94.1 on good days. Just more proof that “height is everything.”
I was under the impression that WMC had been running lower power for some time due to anteanna problems. Did they get that all sorted out?
Down here in Grenada the 99.7 out of Jackson is usually what's present; it really kills WMC most of the time. If anything, we get 104.5, 98.1 and 94.1 on good days. Just more proof that “height is everything.”
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