How far do your local FM stations go?

[davideduardo]

In 2001 summer, I was in Philly for my book tour, I remember having spotty reception on NYC FM's. Not as clear as Jacksonville in Daytona Beach which is a similar distance, but enough I could listen to them with a few dropouts.

Most of the major Jacksonville FMs are Class C stations at or above 100 kw at 1000 feet. The New York stations are Class B's with the equivalent of 50 kw at 500 feet. You are comparing apples with oranges.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Most of the major Jacksonville FMs are Class C stations at or above 100 kw at 1000 feet. The New York stations are Class B's with the equivalent of 50 kw at 500 feet. You are comparing apples with oranges.

Probably so. And - it is hard to find a time in Florida when there is no skip. Still, I think there is some advantage to antenna height even with reduced power. I still remember how KTXT Lubbock, when it was 10 watts off a 600 foot tower, covered the entire city. Reception dropped immediately when you went over the event horizon, but there was no functional difference between KTXT and the other Lubbock stations. They were all strong in the car, in the dorm, in a house. With New York City stations, they were in pretty good shape until they went over the horizon.

Anybody who has listened to Albuquerque stations knows how they go and go for at least couple of hundred miles out to the west along I-40. They are on top of Sandia Peak, so they have a fantastic range even though the power is low to compensate. Nobody cares, because the population is so sparse it is no advantage to the the ABQ station. But a lot of folks in remote communities in Western NM and Eastern AZ benefit. I gave up on them when I was almost to Flagstaff.

WPOZ had a license for 100kW at 300 feet, but they opted for 3kW beam tilted off of a 1600 foot tower. Smart move - they blanketed Orlando and beyond. It was said at the time they had a better signal in Lakeland, in spite of the tower being East of Orlando, than WCIE had in Orlando. I can attest to that, I made the drive many times and it was definitely true.

Houston just got a super LP. 1 Watt off a tall downtown building. If you can see the building, even 20 miles away, the station is strong. But get behind an obstruction, it vanishes and a more distant 102.5 comes in.

 

[davideduardo]

Anybody who has listened to Albuquerque stations knows how they go and go for at least couple of hundred miles out to the west along I-40. They are on top of Sandia Peak, so they have a fantastic range even though the power is low to compensate.

9 of the Albuquerque FMs are on Sandia Peak, with around 20 kw at over 4000 feet. That is not low power.

Compare that with the NYC FMs on the ESB with 6 kw at 1500 feet.

Another 9 Albuquerque market stations, mostly licensed to Santa Fe, are 100 kw at around 2000 feet and are conforming Class C stations. There are another 8 FMs at lower elevations including several Class A's, plus one low power at over 2500 feet. And a slew of translators, some on the peak with nearly full market coverage.

 

[MarioMania]

Here in West Sacramento, CA

KCFA comes in like a local at 3800 watts at 6699 feet

 

[charlestondxman]

Just about anywhere in the south, 100kw signals carry for huge distances. For example, I'm about 4-5 miles south of downtown Charleston. 106.9 and 98.7 (both from the Beaufort/Hilton Head area, but who serve Savannah), are audible almost 100% of the time at 65 miles. With a good car radio, those signals are audible through almost the entire Charleston metro area.

The 100kw Savannah FMs (including 95.5, 97.3, and 102.1) at 95 miles can be heard almost all the time, except if there is no enhancement.

Jacksonville, as said, has some very powerful FMs. 102.9 at almost 200 miles used to be near-daily in the summer until they put a religious LPFM there last year. With a good radio, you can hear most of their FMs here during tropo.

There is a big difference between class Bs and class Cs. 104.7 from Ocean City probably has one of the best class B signals around. With tropo I heard them in Mount Laurel and Point Pleasant, NJ. With the band so filled up in the northeast there isn't that much room for signals to get out like they do here.

 

[davideduardo]

Here in West Sacramento, CA

KCFA comes in like a local at 3800 watts at 6699 feet

Height is not calculated in altitude AMSL, but in Height Above Average Terrain. KCFA is 3800 watts at 841' above average terrain.

It does not show up in ratings in Sacramento, Modesto or Stockton, the nearest rated markets.

 

[MarioMania]

I see

Well on Tropo day, KMEL blanket KCFA signal here in the City

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Just about anywhere in the south, 100kw signals carry for huge distances. For example, I'm about 4-5 miles south of downtown Charleston. 106.9 and 98.7 (both from the Beaufort/Hilton Head area, but who serve Savannah), are audible almost 100% of the time at 65 miles. With a good car radio, those signals are audible through almost the entire Charleston metro area.

The 100kw Savannah FMs (including 95.5, 97.3, and 102.1) at 95 miles can be heard almost all the time, except if there is no enhancement.

Jacksonville, as said, has some very powerful FMs. 102.9 at almost 200 miles used to be near-daily in the summer until they put a religious LPFM there last year. With a good radio, you can hear most of their FMs here during tropo.

There is a big difference between class Bs and class Cs. 104.7 from Ocean City probably has one of the best class B signals around. With tropo I heard them in Mount Laurel and Point Pleasant, NJ. With the band so filled up in the northeast there isn't that much room for signals to get out like they do here.

I can attest to the power of some of those Savannah FMs. When I first learned the narrow ceramic filter trick, WGCO 98.3 would pop right in like a local along Highway 92 between Deland and Daytona Beach, FL - in spite of a local 98.1. That has got to be on the order of 200 miles.

 

[Prescott Joe]

KGCB at 90.9 and KAHM at 102.1 atop Mingus Mtn, both Class C at 58 kw, with HAAT's of
about 770 meters have impressive reach. Both can be heard as far East as Sanders, AZ,
Northeast to Shonto, AZ, The Grand Canyon to the North, Seligman to the Northwest, Indio,
California to the West and Dome, AZ to the Southwest. KFMA at 102.1 Tucson, now interferes
with KAHM much beyond metro Phoenix. KAHM used to reach right to downtown Tucson
before KFMA went on the air. KGCB can reach almost to Marana, just Northwest of Tucson.

 

[crainbebo]

You're right about Sandia Crest. Someone (I can't remember who) was listening to the KOAZ/Oasis translator on 103.7, 50 miles west of ABQ on I-40. That's really good for 250w. No wonder they have a lot of praise in the market. Lots of retirees I bet.

 

[icybluelake]

How far do your locals go and how far can they go are both interesting but different questions. I don't know how far the strongest local FM stations can go -- I'm more attuned (sorry) to the stations that I regularly hear from far away. The one I can think of at the moment is KSJN from Minneapolis. It's not a regular, but I pick it up often enough to think that I'm not always hearing it under tropo or e-skip conditions.

 

[bobdavcav]

I've gotten Seattle stations as far south as Longview, and they go north into Canada. I can get Vancouver and Victoria signals pretty regularly here in the summer. As for static-free signals though, you usually lose the signals south of Tumwater or about Mount Vernon.

 

[Ai4i]

The stations in my area can be received all the way until they fade into oblivion.

 

[ftballfan]

WBCT Grand Rapids (93.7) can still be heard in Detroit's western suburbs (helps that the 93.9 in Detroit (Windsor actually) doesn't run I-BLOC)).

 

[joebtsflk1]

WBCT on 93.7 was one of my earliest memories of real FM DX in Iowa, back when KRNA Iowa City had first moved to 93.9 from 93.5. Back when my after market AM-FM car radio had no push buttons, just an analog manual tuning knob.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

WBCT Grand Rapids (93.7) can still be heard in Detroit's western suburbs (helps that the 93.9 in Detroit (Windsor actually) doesn't run I-BLOC)).

I remember that station from when I lived in Jackson, MI. It is one of those stations that is grandfathered in for 320,000 watts. Their antenna is also pretty high. Nice setup they got, there!

 

[bobdavcav]

Ai4i, how far is that before they fade into oblivion? The best signal around here appears to be KFOO, which I mentioned on another thread here when it was still KYNW. Puget Sound acts as an amplifier for that and other signals down that way, and right along the water they can be received nearly 90 miles away at my aunt and uncle's cabin. As I said in the above mentioned thread, I think that's the best thing I've ever caught, a listenable signal being that far. The Seattle signals are severely degraded by terrain in that area.

 

[Ai4i]

Ai4i, how far is that before they fade into oblivion?

Nothing out of the ordinary.
I did not mean that to really be a serious answer.
Actually, they mostly do extremely well from Miami to the Bahamas where there is nothing to block the signals.
The underpowered Bahamas stations are typically not receivable at all in Florida.

 

[charlestondxman]

I've gotten WBCT on E-skip in South Carolina, as well. Very powerful signal. Most of those Bahamas signals have very low powers on FM. They cover New Providence and Paradise Island (the islands Nassau and Atlantis are on, respectively) well, but struggle to get out farther.

FM on Grand Bahama is a couple of Freeport signals, then a bunch of Miami/WPB fringe signals since there is nothing to block it but ocean.

AM is much different. Miami stations are very audible in Nassau, especially during the daytime. At Grand Bahama, I've gotten WOKV (50kw at 690) from Jacksonville, all the South Florida stations, and even Savannah/Charleston signals. On a good radio at Grand Bahama you can get a signal on most frequencies.

 

[acheron1982]

Grew up in South Georgia. Picked up mostly Savannah stations. The 100K Watt stations have typical coverage (what I expect). I use to live in St. Louis and again, the 100K watts had typical coverage. In Atlanta, 106.7 and 97.1 are pretty impressive. 97.1 is located about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta and I can pick it up to Carrollton (45 miles west of Atlanta). 106.7 isn't even 100K watts but it's height allows me to also pick it up to Carrollton. It is also located about 30 miles or so northeast of the city.

The most impressive radio signals I have ever heard are out of North Carolina (Raleigh/Durham). WQDR and WRAL come to mind. I use to travel Durham to South Georgia down south 95 and could pull those signals all they way to Manning South Carolina (impressive).