Gatlinburg,TN or attn K-Mart shoppers and Radioman 148

[cyberdad]

I would rather drive through South Dakota listening to distant signals like CBK, KFYR, CKLQ and others rather than flying.

-crainbebo

Well, sure. A long car drive yields hours of DXing!

I enjoyed that myself the week before last, and have three more of these coming up during the next two months. Next up is Chicago area-Minneapolis-Winnipeg next week.....and actually, I'll also be in the Gatlinburg the week after Thanksgiving on my way to South Carolina. U.S. Thanksgiving, that is. Belated Thanksgiving greetings to the Canadian regulars here. Hope everyone north of the border had a safe and enjoyable Holiday.

Anyway, once in a while, you can get lucky and snag an empty flight. A couple of years ago, I was on a near empty-flight one January evening from SFO-ORD with my SRF-37 Walkman. Parked myself in an empty row window-seat and had a four-hour blast. FM DX at 35,000 feet is awesome in the western third of the country....before some channels start to take on the characteristics of the AM "graveyards". And on AM, I was tracking several skywave signals. KNX being the strongest until roughly Omaha. KOA was in for the entire ride. KMOX and WHO almost so.

 

[drt]

Here's my report, which is sparse.

I was able to dx more one day in Albany, than the entire week in Gatlinburg.

I did all the Chicago 50,000 watters 670,(impossible here in Florida due to the strong Cuban at night), 720, 780, 890, and 1000.

I was able to receive the 1160 out of Chicago briefly east of Nashville, but in Gatlinburg 1160 at night was almost like a graveyard frequency.

GarFla, I just didn't have the time to spend that I was hoping I would have to i.d. anything unusual.

I was surprised to be able to receive WINS fading in and out; with their directional pattern I was figuring I would not be able to receive them. No trace of the 1010 out of Toronto, but was receiving their shortwave simucast on 6070, which I can not receive in St. Pete due to Cuban interference. (here they interfere with both the AM and shortwave band.)

The 740 music station out of the Toronto area was coming in with a steady listenable signal every night as was the French CBC station on 860.

I was surprised that 990 out of Knoxville was basically a no show at night due to their night time directional pattern.

The only Florida station I received was 1660 out of Marco.

WBT 1110 was barely receivable on the car radio (2011 Toyota Corolla, a good car radio) during the day and totally AWOL at night.

WSM 650 was barely receivable on the car radio during the day and of course boomed in at night, without any of the Spanish interference I have on that frequency at night, here in St. Pete (I assume it's from Cuba).

850 was pretty much a jumbled mess at night, could not i.d. any one station on what time I had available to try.

From the Asheville area, I could receive WWNC 570 during the day and 106.9 WMIT with tower on or near Mount Mitchell.

I was surprised that there wasn't more Cuban interference at night than there was, it was there, but unlike here (St. Pete) it was minimal.

Gar Fla, was not able to receive or at least id KOA 850 and on 1700 the only station (and it was dominate) that I could i.d. was the station out of Huntsville, AL.

And what one person calls "Relaxing with Raul" (as in Castro) on 530 was not there at all during the day and at night faded in and out; whereas here it is a good steady signal day and night.

Sorry, I wasn't able to spend more time and give a more detailed report, but of course, it wasn't a dx reunion!......... and there just wasn't a whole lot of time.

drt,
back in St. Pete or
300 air miles north of Havana!

 

[drt]

Mr Cyberdad,

FYI:

I sent you a PM, but I think you should get it, even though I did receive an error message.

drt]

 

[radioman148]

drt,

Thanks for the report. Hearing WINS in Tennessee is a surprise.

 

[borderblaster]

The Gatlinburg area is a nice place to DX. You do get better reception of the Chicago clears that you do in Ohio because you are out of the skywave/groundwave cancellation zone. Winter sunsets were fun, I was able to recieve WOKV-690 out of Jacksonville for one. One afternoon I had a bunch of NE Ohio stations skipping in, including WAKR on 1590, WHOT-1330 and a couple of others that slip my mind right now.

 

[drt]

One thing about Gatlinburg, is that there are no strong local signals to splatter onto adjacent frequencies and yes the Chicago stations did come in much better than I expected.

It's just too bad that I was only average about 10 minutes a day to dx. (Wednesday I didn't even get to dx at all); whereas in Albany last year, I was able to dx at least an hour each day.

1120 KMOX was also coming in strong, and I failed to mention that 1020 KDKA and 1030 WBZ were both strong at night, no Cuban interference on either there. (unlike here).

One thing I did notice is that in my room (5th floor of 5 floors) and in the car, there was a lot of multipatch due to the mountains on some of the FM's; one way I just had to put the Sangean PR-D5 in mono mode to make that station listenable.

drt,
st. petersburg

 

[davideduardo]

The Cuban interference here can really be annoying. But I do recall one time back in the early 80s I think it was when I was still living in New Jersey and one night WCBS was actually being slightly dominated by a Cuban station for a couple of minutes. I was 80 miles from New York too.

Similar and even more extreme auroral interference is not unusual. I had one case, about 30 miles from the (now) WTAM site in Cleveland where a 10 kw Venezuelan was for over an hour at partity with WTAM.

 

[drt]

The Cuban interference here can really be annoying. But I do recall one time back in the early 80s I think it was when I was still living in New Jersey and one night WCBS was actually being slightly dominated by a Cuban station for a couple of minutes. I was 80 miles from New York too.

Similar and even more extreme auroral interference is not unusual. I had one case, about 30 miles from the (now) WTAM site in Cleveland where a 10 kw Venezuelan was for over an hour at partity with WTAM.

I can certainly believe that, when in the Albany area last year, I was about halfway between Albany and Hudson NY and the 1180 Cuban that is supposed to jam Radio Marti was coming in under semi-local (from that area) WHAM 1180.

drt,
st. petersburg

 

[cyberdad]

Mr Cyberdad,

FYI:

I sent you a PM, but I think you should get it, even though I did receive an error message.

drt]

Got it and responded. Thanks.

Barring the unforseen, I've got a night coming up in Sieverville (sp?) which is near Gatlinburg, at the end of next month. I've never stayed there...let alone DXed...so I'm anxious to check it out.

Meanwhile, I've got another road trip to Minneapolis and Winnipeg commencing tomorrow. Similar to a trip I did in August. I've got a really good car radio this time, so I'll report anything of note. Probably about 20-25% of the driving will be in darkness hours this time. If anyone has any requests, feel free to let me know.

 

[drt]

Mr Cyberdad,

FYI:

I sent you a PM, but I think you should get it, even though I did receive an error message.

drt]

Got it and responded. Thanks.

Barring the unforseen, I've got a night coming up in Sieverville (sp?) which is near Gatlinburg, at the end of next month. I've never stayed there...let alone DXed...so I'm anxious to check it out.

Meanwhile, I've got another road trip to Minneapolis and Winnipeg commencing tomorrow. Similar to a trip I did in August. I've got a really good car radio this time, so I'll report anything of note. Probably about 20-25% of the driving will be in darkness hours this time. If anyone has any requests, feel free to let me know.

I think Sieverville is the spelling, it's the county seat and about 18 miles from Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge is between the two towns.) pronounced Severeville

While there, I sidcovered a station on 930 AM, which is a tourist (brokered I assume) radio info station, promoting different attractions, but interdispersed (sp?--- lost w/o a spellcheck) they have this comedian, I had never heard of, but I listened to the station on the way out of Gatlinburg just to hear Milton Crabapple; southern humor that is probably not heard outside the deep south.

Will have to check my account for your response, as it has yet to come through my email, as it normally would.

drt,
st. petersburg,fl

 

[radioman148]

Mr Cyberdad,

FYI:

I sent you a PM, but I think you should get it, even though I did receive an error message.

drt]

Got it and responded. Thanks.

Barring the unforseen, I've got a night coming up in Sieverville (sp?) which is near Gatlinburg, at the end of next month. I've never stayed there...let alone DXed...so I'm anxious to check it out.

Meanwhile, I've got another road trip to Minneapolis and Winnipeg commencing tomorrow. Similar to a trip I did in August. I've got a really good car radio this time, so I'll report anything of note. Probably about 20-25% of the driving will be in darkness hours this time. If anyone has any requests, feel free to let me know.

Cyberdad,

If you have the chance I'd be curious to know if any of the following Chicago stations make it up to Winnipeg: WMVP, WIND, & WYLL.
I heard WMVP years ago around Minneapolis. As you know they send most of their juice eastward so I'm wondering if they make it to Manitoba.
Also now that WYLL sends their night signal north I'm curious about them making it to Winnipeg. WIND would be the toughest I think with the 560 in Duluth, but they do have a pretty good lobe going north.

Thanks!

 

[jd]

To drt (who started this), Cyberdad and all the others contributing to this thread---it's been many years since I was in Tennessee and one of the few things I really remember is how the Memphis AM stations generally didn't make it that far east. I also recall hearing WMC-FM (with its 300,000 watts) in the Natchez Trace State Park between Memphis and Nashville.

In this thread I've been surprised by the reports of some stations I'd least suspect, like some from the Chicago area and the absence of others, like WBT Charlotte.

The point is this: thanks, everyone for a fascinating discussion. I might never make it to Tennessee again (it's a long way from East Texas) but you've made it possible for me to imagine what it's like to DX there in this day and age. Carry on!

 

[cyberdad]

Cyberdad,

If you have the chance I'd be curious to know if any of the following Chicago stations make it up to Winnipeg: WMVP, WIND, & WYLL.
I heard WMVP years ago around Minneapolis. As you know they send most of their juice eastward so I'm wondering if they make it to Manitoba.
Also now that WYLL sends their night signal north I'm curious about them making it to Winnipeg. WIND would be the toughest I think with the 560 in Duluth, but they do have a pretty good lobe going north.


Thanks!

I can tell you from memory that WIND and WMVP are nighttime regulars in Minneapolis. I used to get into the Twin Cities every couple of months throughout the 80s and part of the 90s. Now it's once or twice a year if that. Haven't tried 1160 since their new stick/pattern.

Tonight I'm in Northwest Minnesota...about 125 miles SSE of Winnipeg. Next two nights I'll be in Winnipeg itself. Then Minneapolis Friday night (wish I could hang around for Packers/Queens on Sunday). Anyway, I'll let you know what I come up with. I have a major presentation to do tomorrow, so I'm not going to have much time tonight. Much more leisurely pace for the second half of the week.

My apologies for the veer off the original topic of the thread. I'll start a new thread for my follow-up posts.

 

[radioman148]

Cyberdad,

If you have the chance I'd be curious to know if any of the following Chicago stations make it up to Winnipeg: WMVP, WIND, & WYLL.
I heard WMVP years ago around Minneapolis. As you know they send most of their juice eastward so I'm wondering if they make it to Manitoba.
Also now that WYLL sends their night signal north I'm curious about them making it to Winnipeg. WIND would be the toughest I think with the 560 in Duluth, but they do have a pretty good lobe going north.


Thanks!

I can tell you from memory that WIND and WMVP are nighttime regulars in Minneapolis. I used to get into the Twin Cities every couple of months throughout the 80s and part of the 90s. Now it's once or twice a year if that. Haven't tried 1160 since their new stick/pattern.

Tonight I'm in Northwest Minnesota...about 125 miles SSE of Winnipeg. Next two nights I'll be in Winnipeg itself. Then Minneapolis Friday night (wish I could hang around for Packers/Queens on Sunday). Anyway, I'll let you know what I come up with. I have a major presentation to do tomorrow, so I'm not going to have much time tonight. Much more leisurely pace for the second half of the week.

My apologies for the veer off the original topic of the thread. I'll start a new thread for my follow-up posts.

Thanks. I look forward to your observations from Winnipeg if you have time.

 

[drt]

To drt (who started this), Cyberdad and all the others contributing to this thread---it's been many years since I was in Tennessee and one of the few things I really remember is how the Memphis AM stations generally didn't make it that far east. I also recall hearing WMC-FM (with its 300,000 watts) in the Natchez Trace State Park between Memphis and Nashville.

In this thread I've been surprised by the reports of some stations I'd least suspect, like some from the Chicago area and the absence of others, like WBT Charlotte.

The point is this: thanks, everyone for a fascinating discussion. I might never make it to Tennessee again (it's a long way from East Texas) but you've made it possible for me to imagine what it's like to DX there in this day and age. Carry on!

I wish I would have even thought to try for some Memphis stations, but my time was so limited compared to my reunion in Albany, NY last year, that I was doing good to dx about 10 minutes per day and even though I had a rental, the traffic in Gatlinburg on the one main street was beyond horrible, so my car just sat in it's parking space most of the week.

As for WBT they have a pretty tight pattern at night to avoid interference with the 1110 in Omaha.......... when I think about it, it is amazing that I can receive WBT 1110 better in St. Pete at night than I could in Gatlinburg........ but on the other hand, it was also amazing (and wonderful) to me NOT to have a strong Cuban station on every 2nd or 3rd frequency and to listen to all the stations, I just usually read about on these boards.

I have to thank everyone for the suggestions and also to apologize for not having more time to dx and give out more info.

drt,
st. petersburg,fl

 

[K4WRF]

As JD accurately posted, the Memphis AM's just don't do too good towards the east because of a soil conductivity shift, FM not any better due to the terrain. On FM there is a 100,000 watt'er at 1360 feet dead center of the state that is co-channel (99.7) with the WMC grandfather at 300,000(H) 100,000(V) watts. In my experience, the mid-state FM (WWTN) is readable further west than WMC is to the east. Again, there is a lot of terrain blocking starting just east of Jackson. Gatlinburg is about 400 miles from Memphis so there is nothing left to hear on either band. Regarding WBT: Very deep nulls to the west at night and some of the worst soil conductivity in the country for the day signal to travel across.

Best regards,

w/

 

[charlestondxman]

When I was in Gatlinburg, six summers ago, I brought my Grundig S350 and it did really well. In my room in the high-rise closed in hotel we were in, I could hear 92.9, 95.5, 97.1 and 97.9 from Nashville over the mountains.

I don't really remember much about the AM reception, but it was good. KOA is very audible in much of TN at night. In Nashville it is very regular at night. Farther east though, it's tougher.

You have the Knoxville 850 (50,000 watts), so that knocks it out early mornings. I heard KOA in Spartanburg, SC one night a couple years ago, and twice in a 3 day period last year I got KOA in Charleston.

I don't remember what I got really, but I also got WTN I believe in Gatlinburg, maybe mixing with WMC. This was six years ago, so it is a little hard for me to remember.

 

[drt]

I stayed on the 5th floor (of 5 floors) at the Glenstone Lodge on Historic Trail ;2 blocks off of the main drag (Eastern Parkway?) , I was surprised that there was so little electrical interference (even less than in my house!), but instead of electrical interference the lack of time was the main obsticle.

Last year in downtown Albany, I had more time but the electrical interference was the obsticle, I had to put the Grundig Satelite 750 not near the window, but actually touching the window to get any decent AM reception. (on the 11th floor of 14)

This year I had the Grundig as well as the Sangean PR-D5, but so many stations to dx and so little time.
Next year, Baton Rouge is where this event will be held.

drt,
st. petersburg(